An extremely overcrowded Antioch Community High School split into two completely separate schools in 2004. Students lost friendships and teachers lost relationships Many people wondered why.

Despite the potential for a powerhouse athletic program and substantial opportunities for academic and extracurricular growth, a super-school was ruled out in favor of two separate school campuses in Community High School District 117.

ACHS being crowded was one of the main reasons for the split. The nearly 2,300 students in the school needed to walk on certain sides of the hallways to be sure traffic flowed effectively, classes were crammed full of students and teachers were displaced from their classrooms so other teachers were able to find a room to teach in.

“Before we split, we had no room. It was very crowded and out of control. We didn’t have anywhere to go. Scheduling was very hard,” counselor Kelly Lindgren said.

In fact, Lindgren was not in favor of staying as one school. She prefers the opportunities she has getting to work with a smaller population of students in the school, especially related to counseling.

“I love having a little bit of everything. I love helping with picking out colleges. I would miss helping out and I wouldn’t get to see [the students] grow up,” Lindgren said.

A two campus option would have placed freshmen and sophomores in one building, then juniors and seniors in another. Although the idea was proposed, it was turned down by the school board and community. In fact, before finalizing the decision of building Lakes, a poll was sent to the district with the majority of the respondents wanting two separate schools with two separate programs.

“Many students would be losing out on opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities. The total number of Lakes and Antioch athletes is almost double that of the number of participants the last year that we were one athletic program.  I do not have the numbers for clubs, but my guess is that it would be similar,” Assistant Principal of Athletics and Activities Steve Schoenfelder said. “In 2009 the two girls track teams went one, two at the sectional track meet.  We qualified 41 girls from the district to the IHSA State Meet.  At least half of those girls that qualified would probably not have even competed in the meet if we had been one program.”

The largest school that feeds into both ACHS and Lakes is Antioch Upper Grade School. With students from Antioch, Lake Villa and Lindenhurst, students of Antioch Upper Grade build relationships and feel they have to break them when it is time for high school.

“If we didn’t split, then I would get to see all of my friends. Also, if we were in one, big school, we would be able to compete with the other side of the conference,” junior Danny Brito said.

Brito isn’t the only student who would like to see his middle school friends again in the hallways of a combined school.

Despite some Sequoits finding seeing their former classmates as positive to a merger, other students like senior Briana Jimenez feel a super school would siimple put ACHS back to where it started.

“I feel like if that were to happen, our school would back to the same issue it faced before, which is the school being over-populated,” said Jimenez. I also feel like classes could be too big and studentsmay not be able to form relationshops with teachers as closely as we are able to now.”

ACHS saw a renewed interest in relationships since Principal Bradford Hubbard assumed the position. According to Jimenez, this positive change would slowly diminish with a merger of the schools.

While looking at surrounding schools near Antioch, such as Warren and Stevenson, ACHS students may fantasize about being a big school. However, with athletics and relationships in mind, the district believes it was a better decision to have two separate schools rather than one.