Past and present Dist. 214 officials celebrate 100th year
Board members, teachers, principals and superintendents both past and present joined Thursday night at Forest View Educational Center to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Northwest Suburban High School District 214.
“Celebrating our centennial celebration as a district is such a huge milestone, and it's such an awesome experience to know we're able to reflect back with pride on the past 100 years and look forward to even greater successes in the next century,” said Superintendent David Schuler at a board meeting honoring the event.
District 214 was established by a referendum in 1914, though it took eight years of legal battles before the district's first high school — Arlington High — opened in 1922.
“Those that came before us laid the groundwork for this day, fighting the battle in 1914 to pass the proposition that created high school District 214, building our first school and then building schools after that and establishing a proven tradition of excellence throughout our entire district,” Schuler said.
Board members dating back from the 1970s, former principals and former Superintendent Steve Berry — who led the district from 1985 to 1994 — joined the celebration. Mayors from Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Mount Prospect and Prospect Heights were also there.
“It took generations of people working hard and being very creative to make this district what it is today,” Dussling said. “100 years has gone by very quickly.”
Former board member Bill Blaine, who served from 1993 to 2007, traveled from Virginia, where he is again serving as an elected school board official.
“There's no more important resource we have as a nation than our young people,” Blaine said. “The fact that you can help move society ahead like that is really something. District 214 has historically done such a great job of that.”
The centennial celebration is a full year of events that started with an open house at the former Arlington High School in September and continued with a districtwide canned food drive in November that collected more than 120,000 cans for local pantries.
Centennial events will continue throughout the weekend at Forest View Educational Center.
From 5 to 9 p.m. Friday there will be a fine arts showcase featuring vocal, instrumental, dance, speech and drama performances and visual arts displays from students across the district. Students from the culinary arts programs will make refreshments to be served during the event.
Starting at 10:30 a.m. Saturday is the Centennial Classic, an all-day event where the varsity boys and girls basketball teams from every District 214 school will compete. The day will also include music from various pep bands and a video tribute to a century of athletic excellence at District 214.
A two-room historical display filled with memorabilia yearbooks and old photos from each school will also be open to the public from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.