Thank you for another wonderful school year at District 88

It’s hard to believe another school year has come to an end, but on June 8, we graduated nearly 1,000 students from District 88.

It has been another wonderful year filled with many accomplishments, and we know those successes are because of our knowledgeable and supportive Board of Education, our dedicated and passionate staff, our engaged students and our involved parents and community members. It truly takes a team to build futures for the students of District 88, and I thank you for your partnership. Below are six highlights from the 2013-14 school year.

  1. More than 90 percent of the class of 2014 at District 88’s two high schools, Addison Trail and Willowbrook, has been accepted to a two- or four-year college or university. Addison Trail students will attend schools in 25 different states and Canada, and Willowbrook students will attend schools in 23 different states.
  2. More students than ever enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which allow students to earn college credit while in high school.
  3. District 88 had students qualify to compete at the State and National levels in Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA); Econ Challenge; DECA; Business Professionals of America (BPA); Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA); Ford/AAA; SkillsUSA; Speech; Theatre; Math; Science Olympiad and Illinois Drafting Educators Association (IDEA).
  4. More than 70 student-athletes from District 88 qualified for Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State competitions, and one student-athlete received All-American recognition. In the West Suburban Conference, District 88 won six Conference titles, and 46 student-athletes from District 88 signed to play their sport at the collegiate level.
  5. Our students and staff continued to give back to their communities. They raised more than $50,000 for the American Cancer Society, hosted blood drives to benefit LifeSource and once again participated in the Park Pride Cleanup in Addison and the Salt Creek Cleanup in Addison and Villa Park.
  6. We joined together with the county to educate students, parents and community members about the heroin epidemic in the county and state. We hosted a Student Leadership Symposium, where students from 23 schools from throughout DuPage County gathered to discuss how to combat this issue. We also hosted public symposiums at Addison Trail and Willowbrook.

Because of those successes, Addison Trail and Willowbrook were once again recognized by The Washington Post as two of “America’s Most Challenging High Schools” and were ranked in the top 6 percent of U.S. public high schools for 2014. Columnist Jay Mathews implemented this national ranking system for high schools, which formerly was in Newsweek, and District 88 has been ranked in his challenge index for seven consecutive years, since 2008.

The end of the school year is a wonderful time to acknowledge all you do for our students. Thank you for helping us accomplish our mission of working for the continuous improvement of student achievement. Have a wonderful summer, and we look forward to another great school year in 2014-15!