WEST CHICAGO, Ill. – Wheaton Academy has completed the first round of improvements in Phase Two of its 15-year master campus plan. Phase Two focuses on athletics and follows Phase One, which expanded the main Academic Building in 2024.
Like every program at Wheaton Academy, athletics is reflective of the school’s mission: to nurture growth in students through relationships, excellence, and service to the glory of God. “Wheaton Academy athletics strives to build student athletes through discipleship, competitive excellence, and process-oriented results,” says Athletic Director Brad Byrne. “Coaches model healthy relationships with both Christ and competition, and they invite their athletes to strive for excellence while also building life-transforming relationships.”
Each year, Wheaton Academy asks graduating seniors who has had the greatest influence on their lives. “Without fail, every year, a constant refrain is: it’s coaches,” says Principal Brad Thornton.
Ben Thorson ’19 played for Thornton in high school and now serves as an assistant football coach and Bible teacher at Wheaton Academy. “Coach Thornton really pushed that your identity is first in Christ,” Thorson said. “Ultimately you are not defined by wins and losses. You’re defined by your identity in Christ. That made a big impact on me.”
That perspective doesn’t mean that winning is an afterthought. “We emphasize faith within our team very highly, but that doesn’t mean we’re soft,” said Mason Brooke ’27, a senior soccer player. “We really want to win, every single time we step onto the field.”
That drive shows on the scoreboard, and it has drawn more students to Wheaton Academy athletics. Twenty years ago, Wheaton Academy offered 12 athletic programs with participation from ~200 student athletes. Football practiced on fields that doubled as water retention areas and played home games off campus on Saturday afternoons. In 2014, Performance Trust Field expanded athletic opportunities and brought football games home to Wheaton Academy. Today, the school offers 22 programs, and nearly 375 students, about half the student body, compete. More than 11 youth sports programs also bring over 1,000 young athletes and their families to campus each year.
“Our existing facilities helped create the growth we’re seeing today,” Byrne says, “But these facilities cannot keep pace with our growing programs. We’re grateful for the improvements Phase Two of our master campus plan has already made possible, and excited for what’s still to come.”
Completed Phase Two improvements include:
- New turf on the main field and the new 1853 Field practice facility, both built on a Brock shock pad to improve safety and increase year-round availability
- New campus security fencing
- Renovated soccer locker room in the lower level of the Alumni White Chapel
- New team room for classrooms, meetings, and discipleship experiences
- Resurfaced tennis courts
- Updated athletic training room and recovery space
- New golf simulator room
Future Phase Two projects include new stadium bleachers and a press box, an outdoor athletic building with team rooms, concessions, and accessible restrooms, a lower plaza with a new stadium entrance, a storage shed, and the remaining fencing around the fields.
At Wheaton Academy, discipleship happens wherever a teacher or coach invests in a student, whether in a classroom, a rehearsal room, or on the field. The spaces we are improving and adding through Phase Two will create more opportunities to nurture and disciple our student athletes.
To learn more about planned Phase Two projects, contact Doug Hardy, Director of Development, at dhardy@wheatonacademy.org or 630-562-7580.
