University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Established | 1896 |
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| Type | Private |
| Students | 1715 (2006-2007) |
| Grades | Nursery(3)–12 |
| Location | Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Mascot | Maroons |
| Yearbook | 'U-Highlights Yearbook' |
| Newspaper | 'U-High Midway' |
| Website | www.ucls.uchicago.edu |
The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (also Lab School and abbreviated UCLS; the upper classes are nicknamed U-High) is a private, co-educational day school in Chicago, Illinois.
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[edit] Overview
The Lab School was founded on the principles of hands-on learning and exploration by American educator John Dewey in 1896 in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. The school began as a progressive institution that goes from nursery school through 12th grade. It is affiliated with the University of Chicago, and about half the students have a parent who is an employee of the university (and thereby receive a discount off the full tuition, normally as much as $20,000 per year).[1] It is considered one of the top preparatory schools in the United States, reflected in the Wall Street Journal's findings that the school is amongst the top five feeder institutions in the nation for elite colleges [1].[citation needed] It has been heralded as one of the more diverse independent schools with about 35% students of color and over 44 nationalities represented.[citation needed]
Today the school is divided into a Nursery School (Pre-K and Kindergarten), Lower School (1st through 4th grade), Middle School (5th through 8th grades), and High School (9th through 12th grades). Many children begin the school in nursery and continue through their high school graduation, and 75% of applications are for nursery school or 9th grade. The school has over 1,700 students currently enrolled, though there are plans to increase the size. Ninety-nine percent of each graduating class enrolls in a four-year college or university.
The Lower School, Middle School, and High School are a part of the main 1362 E 59th Street building. The main building consists of five smaller, interconnected buildings: Judd, Blaine, Belfield, Middle School and U-High. The Nursery School consists of two smaller, separate buildings and is a block west and a half block north on Woodlawn Ave.
The high school math team and the science team are regular contenders for state titles, and the Model United Nations team is considered one of the best in the country. The school's newspaper (The Midway) and the school's yearbook (U-Highlights) regularly win regional and national awards, as does the arts magazine, Renaissance. Other popular activities include theater, ethnic clubs, and Student Council.
The school's athletic teams, the Maroons, compete in the Independent School League (ISL) and are members of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). The high school has eight boys and eight girls teams, while the middle school has five boys and five girls teams. Both operate with a "no cut policy," meaning any student who wishes to participate may. The main rivals are the Francis W. Parker School, The Latin School of Chicago, and the St. Ignatius College Preparatory School.
[edit] Notable persons
[edit] Alumni
- Ray Anderson, '69, jazz trombonist, composer, bandleader, Stony Brook University professor
- Rishi Bhat, '02, child actor and widely acclaimed internet entrepreneur
- Charles Blackstone, '95, novelist
- Bill Bradbury, '67, Oregon secretary of state
- Paul Butterfield, '60, blues musician and bandleader
- Erwin Chemerinsky '71, law professor, Duke University, dean of the new law school at the University of California, Irvine, beginning in July, 2008.
- Anthony Cordesman '56, foreign policy commentator
- Joyce Chiang '88, murdered INS attorney
- Daniel Clowes '79, author, screenwriter and cartoonist of alternative comic books
- Arne Duncan, '82, Chicago Public Schools CEO
- Andrea Ghez, '83, physicist
- Scott Gurvey, '69, New York bureau chief, Nightly Business Report
- Maria Hinojosa, '79, journalist
- Nancy Lee Johnson '51, Connecticut Congresswoman (1983-2006)
- Lucy Kaplansky, '78 folk singer and songwriter
- Leon Kass '54, professor, Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago
- Leo Katz '74, law professor, University of Pennsylvania Law School
- Robert Keohane, '58, political scientist
- Lily Koppel, journalist and writer
- Sherry Lansing, '62, former chief of Paramount Studios and Academy Award winner (2007)
- Edward H. Levi, '28, attorney general of the United States, 1975-1977
- David Levi, judge and dean, law school, Duke University
- George Lewis, '69, trombonist, composer, Columbia University professor, MacArthur Foundation Fellow (2002), AACM member
- Richard A. Loeb '20, famous murderer of Leopold and Loeb fame
- Emily Mann, '70, award-winning playwright and artistic director of McCarter Theatre
- William H. McNeill '34. professor, emeritus, history department at The University of Chicago
- Daniel Meltzer, '68, professor, Harvard Law School
- Elliot Mincberg '70, Chief Counsel for Oversight and Investigations, House Judiciary Committee, director and lawyer at People for the American Way
- Paul Nitze, '23, public servant
- Mark Patinkin, '70, newspaper columnist and author
- James Redfield, '50, professor, classics and social thought, University of Chicago
- Salli Richardson, '84, film and TV actress
- Ned Rorem, '40, composer and author
- Ari Roth, '78, artistic director, playwriter, Theater J, Washington, DC.
- Janet Rowley, '42, geneticist
- Peter Sahlins, '75, professor, history department, University of California, Berkeley
- John Paul Stevens '37, US Supreme Court justice
- Robert Storr, '67, curator, critic, painter, dean of Yale School of Art
- Garrick Utley, '56, television journalist
- Geoffrey Ward, '57, screenwriter and author
- David Wilkins '73, law professor, Harvard Law School
- Amy Wright, '67, actress
[edit] Faculty
- Blue Balliett, former 3rd grade teacher, author of acclaimed children's books Chasing Vermeer and The Wright 3.
- Earl P. Bell, A debate and Model United Nations coach, 1967 to 2008, who taught U.S. history, now retired. During the summer of 1967, Mr. Bell was a William Robertson Coe Fellow in American History at Stanford University. Mr. Bell was also selected by the instructional division of Colonial Williamsburg as one of the twenty best teachers of American history in the state of Virginia when he was teaching at Kecoughtan High School in Hampton, Virginia. In June, 1988, he was selected as a "Distinguished Teacher" by The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. Also,in 1988, he was a James Madison Scholar on the United States Constitution. In academic 1995 - 1996, Mr. Bell was a National Endowment for the Humanities Teacher - Scholar with a year's paid sabbatical leave for researching and writing on "Women in Conservation Politics: The Vanguard Generation, 1880 to 1920." In the 1990s, he was a founder and president of the Organization of History Teachers. From 1979 to 1985, he served as a Trustee and President of the Village of Park Forest South, a community that, when he was the mayor, changed its name to University Park.
- Wayne Brasler, winner of the prestigious Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism in 2007.
- Langston Hughes, author
- Vivian Paley, former teacher and noted child psychologist.
[edit] Students
- Malia and Sasha Obama, children of US Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama.
