About our School
Homewood-Flossmoor High School is a comprehensive community high school located in the south suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. H-F serves a community that consists of the villages of Homewood and Flossmoor, and portions of Chicago Heights, Glenwood, Hazel Crest, and Olympia Fields, including school districts 153, 161, and 167. The area is served by Homewood-Flossmoor Park District. Other area sites include Homewood Library, the Flossmoor Library, the SouthtownStar newspaper and Homewood-Flossmoor Patch.

(To look up current and past teachers and their years at H-F, see our Administration, Teacher & Staff archive.)

A Brief Historical Overview of
Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School, District 233

The Community
H-F, today with nearly 3,000 students, is located in the Cook County suburb of Flossmoor, Ill., approximately 25 miles south of downtown Chicago. The district encompasses nearly 11.5 square miles, drawing students from the communities of Homewood, Flossmoor, Chicago Heights, Glenwood, Hazel Crest and Olympia Fields.
Although drawing students from six surrounding communities, over three-quarters of H-F’s students come from Homewood and Flossmoor. The student body, like the community, is diverse – an attribute, along with quality education, that parents repeatedly cite for moving into the district. Student mobility is relatively low and due almost exclusively to parental transfer and home building. Homewood and Flossmoor, where genera¬tions of the same family often live within blocks of one another, create a sense of heritage and community that reflects in the high school being a center of public pride.
Demographically upscale, the residents are well educated, with more than 95% completing high school, 82.6% having some college, and 62.3% holding college degrees. Virtually no major industry is located within H-F’s feeder communities, so that school funding comes largely from residential property taxes.

The Campus
H-F opened in 1959 with an enrollment in all four grades of 1,170 students. There were 51 classrooms, 51 staff, four major buildings, and no computers. Today there are 153 classrooms, 225 staff, 12 major buildings and more than 1,500 computers. With plenty of space on the 95 acres that comprised the campus, a football field and track were added in 1961, and four tennis courts in 1962.
By 1965, the school’s population had nearly doubled and additional buildings were
added – Auditorium (1965), G-building (1966), E-building (1966). As growth continued it became apparent that a major new facility was needed, and in 1971, the North building and field house opened when the student population topped 4,000.
Throughout the remaining 1970s and most of the 1980s the student population remained relatively stable. By the late 1980s enrollment began to decline, mainly because of the aging population in the community and the growing number of empty nest households. During those years little physical change took place on campus, with the notable exception of an Ice Arena (partnered with the H-F Park District), which provided hockey and practice rinks, making the school unique, as the only public school in the nation to have such a facility.
Following a decade of preparation and fiscal planning, in 1995, a $25 million renovation and addition program was completed: all classrooms and offices were wired for Internet access; a music wing providing student practice and performance areas for Band, Orchestra and Choral music was built; a Technology Center and numerous labs to offer computer assisted instruction were completed; the Mall Building, located mid-campus near the football field and field house, was expanded, modernized and staffed, providing athletic training and rehabilitation of student athletes; a new Olympic sized aqua-center was opened; 14 tennis courts were added; and, the student-run WHFH radio and TV stations were modernized.

The Academic Climate
A tradition of excellence is the cornerstone of Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School – the result of commitment on the part of district residents to the idea of a community high school with high standards for students and staff, and a solid goal of excellence in education.
H-F is a comprehensive high school that provides students with opportunities for the pursuit of academic excellence and personal growth. The curriculum provides structure and traditional courses, yet offers students many options to explore and develop their individual talents. All curricular areas receive equal opportunity and equal attention. A non-core curricular area such as the Performing or Visual Arts receives adequate funding in the same way as Mathematics or Science. A student talented in the Theatre Arts or Music has the same opportunities to achieve excellence as a student who is gifted in History or English. The school offers courses at three levels – Academic Core, College Prep, Honors – with Advanced Placement instruction in 21 subjects. To provide additional classroom time and flexibility, a modified block schedule was adopted during the 1998-99 academic year. Placement in specific courses and levels is largely by student choice, yet the school encourages all students to aspire to the highest course levels, resulting in a gradual increase in the number of students enrolling in AP courses. Historically, 95.5% of the graduating class continues on to a 2 or 4 year college or tech school. Average ACT and SAT scores are consistently several points above the national average, and 88.3% of all AP tests are 3 or better.
The quality of a school’s academic program is only as good as the professionals who deliver it. H-F’s faculty reflects the high expectations of the community, bringing many years of experience and advanced degrees to the classroom. Understanding the financial implications of such experience and education, district residents willingly compensate these professionals at a considerably higher rate than the state average.
While academics are the first order of business, social development and personal growth are important to the overall education of our students. There are 102 clubs and activities that involve nearly the entire student body. We offer twenty-eight interscholastic sports: fourteen for boys and fourteen for girls. Athletics include all major sports and others such as Field Hockey, Water Polo, and Ice Hockey, resulting in over fourteen hundred interscholastic contests each year. Clubs and activities cover a wide range of interests from Animal Rights Club to French Cuisine and Conversation Club to Model United Nations. We also offer a comprehensive intramural program that attracts in excess of 1,800 students annually. Additional opportunities for students to exhibit their talents are offered through the Symphonic and Marching Bands, Orchestra, Ensemble, Viking Choir, and various boy and girl choruses. Students aspiring to a future in the broadcast and communications industry can work on the student managed 1500 watt WHFH radio station, broadcast video announcements, or produce programs from our television studio, Viking TV.
Another important responsibility of the school is to provide students a safe, healthy, and bias-free environment. To that end we send a clear and unequivocal message through our discipline policies and actions, that we do not tolerate behaviors that compromise student health, safety, or self-worth. H-F was one of the first schools nationwide that randomly tests athletes for drugs on a weekly basis.

A Deserved Reputation
The National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence award, from the U.S. Department of Education, was first awarded to H-F in 1983 (only the second year of the program). Given to the most outstanding public and private schools across the U.S., the award identified exemplary schools that exhibit a strong commitment to educational excellence for all students, model equity, and succeed in furthering the intellectual, social, moral, and physical growth of all students. Refusing to rest on its success, the school continued to excel and received the prestigious award again in 1996. When in 2002, the U.S. Department of Education announced H-F had again been named a Blue Ribbon school, it became one of only 14 public schools nationwide, and two in Illinois, to claim the honor three times. That same year, 2002, H-F was the only school in the nation to receive the U.S. Department of Education’s Special Honor for Technology Usage.
Throughout its 50 years H-F has consistently garnered state and national awards for excellence. Contest play has won the state drama contest more than any other high school in Illinois (17); the student newspaper, The Voyager, was named the most outstanding student paper in America; and, EDDA, was awarded “Best High School Literary and Art Magazine in the U.S.” Student scholars by the thousands have been recognized for excellence by ACT, SAT, AP and numerous academic institutions. Athletics, showing the same unwavering quest for superiority, has won state titles in football, boys and girls golf, field hockey, girls tennis, boy gymnastics, and 41 individual state titles.

Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School is an outstanding educational institution with a consuming interest in the success of students, highly educated parents, an involved and supportive home environment, a stable student population with little mobility to disrupt the continuity of education, above average financial support from property owners, exceptional facilities on a large tract of land, a dedicated professional staff, an openness to educational reform and student support services, and a commitment to moving through the 21st Century by utilizing technology in the best interest of students, teachers and community. It is our belief that all students can learn and be successful, and to that end we continue to be committed to maintaining the excellence of our past while preparing students for the future.