Amundsen High School | |
---|---|
Address | |
5110 N. Damen Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60625 United States |
|
Coordinates | 41°58′30″N 87°40′49″W / 41.9751°N 87.6803°WCoordinates: 41°58′30″N 87°40′49″W / 41.9751°N 87.6803°W |
Information | |
School type | Public Secondary |
Opened | 1929 |
School district | Chicago Public Schools |
CEEB code | 140655 |
Principal | Anna Pavichevich |
Grades | 9–12 |
Gender | Coed |
Enrollment | 1,126 (2015–16) |
Campus type | Urban |
Color(s) |
Red grey |
Athletics conference | Chicago Public League |
Team name | Vikings |
Accreditation | North Central Association of Colleges and Schools |
Website | http://www.amundsenhs.org/ |
Amundsen High School is a public 4-year high school located at the corner of Damen and Foster Avenue in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. It is a part of Chicago Public Schools and has approximately 1,200 students, though its building was designed to house 1,300. It is a neighborhood high school without selective enrollment. It is a CPS school with a non-selective International Baccalaureate program. In 2015, the school achieved Level 1 Status in Good Standing under the district's performance policy rating. The school is located at the north-east corner of Winnemac Park in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. It shares the park with Eliza Chappell Elementary School and Amundsen's sports stadium, Jorndt Field.
The school was named after Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer who led the first expedition to reach the South Pole. His expedition reached the pole on December 14, 1911. Designed by architect Paul Gerhardt, Roald Amundsen School opened November 10, 1930, two years after the famous explorer died in a rescue mission to the North Pole. Amundsen was not a high school when it opened, but a junior high. The Amundsen building also played host to branches of other schools, including a branch of McPherson Elementary that opened in Amundsen in 1932. On July 26, 1933, Amundsen Junior High became Amundsen Senior High. In addition to serving high school pupils it also accommodated an elementary school unit. In June 1935 the Amundsen Elementary unit closed except for a small number of first and second-graders kept on as a branch of Goudy Elementary. This branch of Goudy in Amundsen became a branch of Hamilton on January 8, 1936 and remained until 1937 when it was rendered obsolete by the newly erected Chappell School. In 1956, the school was the first site of a two-year college program that later grew to become present-day Harry S Truman College. Above the main entrance is inscribed the quote, "A brave man may fall but cannot yield."
The sports stadium was renovated in 2004 and renamed Jorndt Field after Louis C. Jorndt. Lou Jorndt taught and coached at Amundsen from 1930 until 1953. His son Dan Jorndt, and his wife Pat Jorndt donated $1 million for the renovation. Football scenes for the movie The Express (2008), about the life of Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy, were filmed in Jorndt Field in April and May 2007.