Northwestern University forms new partnership with Lake View High School

EVANSTON - Northwestern University will develop a new partnership with Lake View High School (LVHS) in Chicago that will expand and enhance student educational opportunities and experiences at the high school, Northwestern and Lake View officials announced today. 

Northwestern will infuse resources to support academic enrichment and mentoring activities, teacher professional development, and college and career preparation for Lake View students. This new partnership will also draw upon Lake View’s status as a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) school. 

Northwestern President Morton Schapiro said, “We are very pleased to partner with Lake View High School, and deepen our relationship with Chicago Public Schools. We want to help build and maintain strong neighborhood schools and provide increased access to high-quality education for Lake View’s wonderful students.”

Lake View serves a diverse population on Chicago’s north side, including the more than 1,500 Northwestern students, faculty and staff who live in the neighborhoods that feed into Lake View.

As an Early College STEM School, Lake View leverages partnerships to provide technology training and dual-credit earning opportunities to develop a college-going culture and to prepare students for careers in STEM — for which the demand continues to grow. Northwestern joins Lake View’s partners, including Microsoft and DePaul University, and will augment current programming and provide additional opportunities for students to be exposed to challenging curriculum and educational opportunities. Northwestern students, faculty and staff are expected to participate in the new partnership.

“Lake View High School strives to provide every student with a STEM-focused, 21st-century education to underscore the range of opportunities available in the field of STEM,” said Interim Lake View Principal Paul Karafiol. “We are delighted to partner with Northwestern University's world-class STEM faculty who will bring invaluable knowledge to the classroom and help our students explore interests, fields and passions outside of our comprehensive course offerings.”

Northwestern brings its award-winning STEM education center, Science in Society, to its new partnership with the school. The center focuses on community-driven, long-term education initiatives for underserved students and their teachers. At Lake View, Northwestern will build on this expertise and staffing to develop new, tailored programs to address the school’s educational needs. Northwestern will create new, authentic summer laboratory opportunities for Lake View students to learn the research-based skills of scientific discovery.

Other programming will be developed in collaboration with Lake View’s principal and teachers and will include support for postsecondary planning and preparation, teacher professional development and student teaching experiences for Northwestern graduate education program students. A major goal of the partnership is to sharpen critical thinking and problem-solving skills and provide college preparation and enrichment opportunities.


The new partnership with Lake View High School builds upon a myriad of Northwestern initiatives designed to support Chicago’s school-aged children, including:

• Northwestern Academy, a multiyear college preparation and enrichment program for diverse, academically motivated students from Chicago Public Schools launched in 2013, which currently serves 198 Chicago students in grades 10-12. 

• The Chicago Principal Fellowship Program, which provides rigorous executive leadership training and is run by the Center for Nonprofit Management at Kellogg School of Management and the School for Education and Social Policy, both at Northwestern. 


• Science in Society is currently working with Stephen Tyng Mather High School to develop a school-day STEM mentoring program for ninth grade students aimed at building science skills and strengthening attitudes and behaviors linked to academic success. Now in its third year, the program is supported by five Science in Society staff members working both in school and after school to address learning needs identified by Mather teachers and administrators.

• The Women’s Health Science Program (WHSP) for High School Girls and Beyond, which provides science education programs to females from underserved communities in Chicago. Created by Northwestern’s Women's Health Research Institute, the WHSP targets young women considering careers in science and medicine and prepares them with valuable knowledge and skills to successfully become the next generation of women science leaders. Of the girls who have participated in the program, 100 percent have gone on to college, and 82 percent are majoring in the fields of science and medicine.

• The Biotechnology Center of Excellence, a partnership between Lindblom Math & Science Academy, the Office of STEM Education Partnerships at Northwestern University and the Science@Work Program at Baxter International Inc. The program is a hub for high school and middle school curricula, teacher professional development and resources in the field of biotechnology.

• Northwestern University Brain Awareness Outreach (NUBAO), a graduate student-led public outreach initiative dedicated to educating and inspiring the Chicago community about the brain. Through collaborations with public schools and science education programs in the Chicago area, NUBAO organizes a number of hands-on lectures, workshops and open house-style events in an effort to teach a variety of neuroscience topics to students of all ages.

• Medill Media Teens, a two-year program that prepares and provides training for students from Chicago in journalism skills, including how to conduct interviews, write and edit stories, shoot and edit videos and create multimedia websites.