Crystal Lake South High School, often referred to as "South" or "CLS," is one of three high schools in Crystal Lake, Illinois, and currently has a body of roughly 1916 students. As Crystal Lake's second oldest school, it was constructed from 1976 to 1978 and opened in September, 1978 after Crystal Lake Community High School, now Crystal Lake Central High School, split into two schools due to the pressures of the population growth in the communities it served, Crystal Lake, and part of Lake in the Hills. South graduated its first class in 1979 - this class consisted of approximately 250 seniors who were transferred from Crystal Lake Central High School. South graduated its first class who attended all four years in 1982.
After the community's school split, the South Gators and Central Tigers became large rivals in the Fox Valley Conference. Though recently, focus of rivalry has primarily shifted to the Cary-Grove High School Trojans due to vastly increased competition in football games between the two schools. However, an underlying tone of competition still vibrates between the two Crystal Lake schools.
The city of Crystal Lake has grown rapidly since South first opened it doors. The school reached its structural capacity in 2002. A new addition opened for the 2003-2004 school year, with several dozen new classrooms. However, due to the phenomenal growth of the city, the addition was already insufficient by the 2005-2006 school year (the graduating class of 2004 consisted of 366 students, class of 2006 had 435 students, and the class of 2009 contained approximately 540 students). The final phase of the 2003-2004 additions was opened in the 2006-2007 school year. The "Lower level" under C-Hall added 10 classrooms and over 1,000 lockers.
Crystal Lake South High School's mascot is the "Gator". This mascot was chosen in 1976 by a poll of students who would attend South when it first opened. Currently South is being sued by University of Florida (CLS allegedly used their logo without permission to sell it on merchandise) and the logo has to be changed. From this, arose a contest; graduates, current students, and the community got to design and enter logo's to be voted upon for the new one. The new logo was chosen and was used in place of the old one beginning in the 2011-2012 school year. Over the summer of 2016, a bronze gator statue was placed at the entrance to the school, which was redone during this time.
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Notable alumni
- Ivana Bozilovic - Class of 1995. Model/Actress 100 Girls, National Lampoon's Van Wilder, Wedding Crashers
- Paul Lekics - Class of 1991. Retired professional soccer player for the Richmond Kickers and Chicago Fire. Former assistant soccer coach for California State University, Stanislaus
- Scott Olsen - Class of 2002 - Major League pitcher currently playing for the Texas Rangers
- Randy Salerno - Class of 1981 - Former news anchor for WGN-TV and WBBM-TV in Chicago - deceased - snowmobile accident.
- Jim Verraros - Class of 2001 - Singer/actor of American Idol fame
- Caitlin Napoleoni - Class of 2007 - Meteorologist for NBC5.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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