Common Areas
Kitchen Servery
The kitchen servery as it looked in the early days of MHS.
The biggest change to the kitchen servery since MHS opened in 1961, is in the number of students using it.
An architect’s rendering of what a future kitchen servery may look like at MHS.
Cafeteria
The MHS cafeteria at MHS has remained mostly unchanged since 1961.
It takes four lunch periods to seat the current student population in a cafeteria that seats a maximum of 450 students.
An architect’s rendering of what a future cafeteria may look like at MHS.
MHS Commons
MHS was designed for an enrollment of 1,500 students, providing plenty of room in hallways and common areas.
With enrollment more than 2,200 students, the commons area in between the gym and auditorium fills up quickly each morning.
An architect’s rendering shows a staircase with seating - one way to create more room for students at MHS.
Gymnasium
The current gymnasium isn’t big enough to accommodate the entire student body.
Due to lack of an alternative space, the competition gym has multiple uses such as robotics tournaments, PE classes and community events as shown here.
A fieldhouse such as the one shown in this rendering would host PE and wellness classes, band practice, dance and robotics tournaments and community events. Mundelein High School is currently the only high school in Lake County without a fieldhouse.
Hallways
Limited seating space in the cafeteria and the closure of one of the four kitchen servery lines due to aging infrastructure has resulted in long lines at lunch for many MHS students.
The hallway in the music department doubles as a storage area for instruments.
Instructional Areas
Classrooms
A typical MHS classroom in the mid 1970s.
Many classrooms haven’t changed much at MHS. But the student population, now at more than 2,200, continues to grow.
Band Room
Music students practice in the band room during the 1970s.
Currently more than 240 students participate in music programs. The band room has room for only about 80 students.
An artist’s rendering of a possible future band room at MHS.
CTE • Career & Technical Education
Metals Shop • Automotive Shop
A student works in the metals shop at Mundelein High School in the 1970s. The metals shop was eventually closed to make room for a girl’s team locker room and educational spaces.
Students work in the automotive shop in the 1970s. The shop no longer exists at MHS.
Airplane Construction
An MHS student works on the construction of an airplane in the 1980s.
In a technical education class, students helped build a few airplanes in the 1980s and 1990s.
One of the airplanes built by students, on display at MHS.
Wood Shop
A student in the MHS wood shop in the 1970s.
A student in the MHS wood shop in 2024.
An artist’s rendering of how a future Career Technical Education space might look at MHS.
MHS Infrastructure
Aging Mechanical Systems
An old air handling coil still in use at MHS.
MHS has about 2.5 miles of pipe that are near or beyond the end of their useful life. Many of the pipes range in age from 45 to 65 years old.
An old boiler at Mundelein High School.
Outdated Technology
Pneumatic valves were installed in the late 1950s. The old system is due to be upgraded with digital technology.
In some areas of MHS, sections of fuse boxes have been bypassed with new electric systems. In other areas, they are original to the building.
Wiring in areas like the kitchen were fed underground and covered in concrete. When the original lines corrode and fail, the only options are to shut some lines down, or dig up the floor and replace the system.
MHS Building
Heating and cooling systems at MHS are inefficient due in part to old systems and gaps in old walls.
Some of the walls in the competition gymnasium are painted glass block. Studies have shown that they leak warm air on cold days, forcing the heating system to work even harder to warm the gym.
The glass block windows are poor insulators, but even worse as they age.