The hill, which is set to be destroyed as part of expansion at Glenbard West High School, is also home to the school's victory bell.
GLEN ELLYN, IL — To outsiders, the hill at Glenbard West High School may not appear to be anything special, but former students and residents say it has been integral to some of their most cherished lifelong memories. Residents say those memories and future ones will be tarnished if plans to demolish the hill and expand the school campus go forward.
Residents have started a GoFundMe campaign and are looking into legal efforts to put a stop to District 87 expansion plans that would raze the hill to accommodate a new branch for the high school. The proposed 13,800-square-foot expansion is part of the district's $187 million bond referendum, which passed by a narrow margin in the April 2024 election.
The hill, which rises from the back of the high school, is shaded by old-growth oak trees and overlooks Lake Ellyn. Perched atop it is a victory bell that students have tolled for decades following winning games.
"Iconic has become a popular word as of late: in Glen Ellyn, there is nothing more iconic than the hill. Whether the students of Glenbard West High School refer to it as 'the castle on the hill' or 'the dump on the hump,' it is referred to with love and pride," 2001 Glenbard West graduate Lindsay Kania shared.
"[P]ride is a big deal for this over century old institution," Kania said. "The athletic teams are called 'The Hilltoppers,' for goodness sakes; what would they be without the hill?"
Kania said students would go to the hill for a "quiet and serene place to sit," to eat lunch in solitude or to stroll "meditatively" amid the "hidden gardens" and "bubbling fountains."
Resident Janet Sweeney recalls when the Glenbard West Hilltoppers won the 7A Football Championship in 2012, marking the school's first state championship in nearly 40 years. One of her three sons who attended Glenbard West was on the team.
"After the game, we drove back to the high school and waited for the team to arrive," Sweeney told Patch.
"The sight of the buses snaking down the hill to bring the team to the parking lot by Duchon Field elicited a roar from the crowd. One by one, the students exited the buses and walked up the hill to ring the victory bell to the wild cheers of family and friends. "
Sweeney said many residents first heard about the proposed expansion after a District 87 board meeting on July 21. She told Patch the news spread quickly via word-of-mouth.
Sweeney told Patch dozens of residents expressed their disapproval of the expansion ahead of the July 21 district meeting. She said resident Kurt Buchholz started a GoFundMe campaign a day later. Per the GoFundMe description, donations will be used to fund legal action "in hopes of stopping the project and forcing [District 87] to go back to the drawing board."
As of Aug. 12, the campaign had raised more than $18,000. Donations were closed as of Aug. 11, after the campaign's goal had been reached. The matter will be presented to legal counsel after FOIA requests are fulfilled, Buccholz wrote.
"Prior to this, most residents thought the recently passed referendum was for repairs," Sweeney said.
Initial plans had shown the expansion would be built off the school's northwest corner.
Sweeney said some 150 residents showed up at a special meeting of the village board on July 14 to "protest the destruction of the back of the Glenbard West campus." The meeting had been set to address zoning variance requests related to the project. These variances were approved, Sweeney said.
At the July 14 meeting, Village President Jim Burket said, "This wasn't District 87's finest hour. This is going to be something that people are going to think about for a long time."
"If you look at the Glen Ellyn numbers, [the referendum] lost in Glen Ellyn," he said.
Burket said he lives within 50 feet of the school and received "one letter" a day before a meeting set to discuss the expansion.
"I wasn't supposed to be taking part in these meetings anyway, but at the end of the day, the communication, I don't think, was there," he said.
"The language of the referendum was not what the voters got," Burket said. "You had to dig deep into the FAQs to find the spreadsheet to find, at the bottom of page seven of an eight-page spreadsheet, the mention of classroom renovation and construction."
"You weren't educating the public in the way you should have," Burket said.
"You have a room full of people who told you they found out about this maybe two weeks ago from a neighbor."
"Hearing that, you have to cringe," Burket said. "You have to be sitting there saying to yourself how did that not work out?"
"People in this town remember," he said.
And for many residents and former students, the "castle on the hill" is not something they want to only be able to remember.
"The memories and friendships that were created will last forever," Sweeney said. "My son still has friends from those days that he sees regularly. This is what is being destroyed with no regard for the community."
District 87 did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment Tuesday morning.