Niles West High School, officially Niles Township High School West or NWHS, is a public four-year

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

located in

Skokie, Illinois Skokie (; formerly Niles Center) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, neighboring the City of Chicago's northern border. Its population, according to the 2020 census, was 67,824. Skokie lies approximately north of Chicago's do ...

, a north suburb of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in the United States. It is part of Niles Township Community High School District 219, which also includes

Niles North High School Niles North High School, officially Niles Township High School North, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a North Shore suburb of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. It is part of Niles Township Community High Scho ...

. Its school teams were originally the Indians, but this was later changed in 2001 to the Wolves. Its feeder middle schools are Lincoln Junior High School (located in Skokie), Fairview South School (located in Skokie), Lincoln Hall Middle School (located in Lincolnwood), Culver Middle School (located in Niles), and Park View School (located in Morton Grove).

History

Niles West High School sits on over an acre of land. The school opened in the fall of 1958. In 1996, the Niles Township Federation of Teachers went on a

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

for two weeks over negotiations with administrators. During that time numerous students staged a walkout and pledged their allegiance to Niles West. Strikes have also happened in 1979 and 1985 with similar results.

Academics

In 2007, Niles West had an average composite ACT score of 22.3, and graduated 93.2% of its senior class.Class of 2007 school report card
The average class size was 19.2. In 2012, Newsweek ranked Niles West on its list of the Top 1000 Public Schools in the nation. As of March 2020, many 8th or 7th graders have been attending Niles West high school as part as an off-level program.

Student life

Activities

The "West Word" student newspaper has been awarded first place for seven years running, with special merit twice, by the American Scholastic Press Association Newspaper contest. Starting in the 2010–2011 school year, the print newspaper was retired, renamed "Niles West News", and moved online.

Fine arts

In April 2007, both Niles West and Niles North received the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network and National School Boards Association Award for excellence in arts education. In summer 2010, the Niles West High School Theatre Department performed at the 2010 American High School Theatre Festival in Scotland. The Illinois Art Education Association awarded the Fine Arts Departments with three awards in 2020: Art Education Program of the Year, Patti-Anne Ford as the Art and Design Administrator of the Year, and Deanna Sortino as the Secondary Art Educator of the Year.

Athletics

Niles West competes in the Central Suburban League and

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fe ...

(IHSA). Teams are stylized as the

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

. Until the end of the 1999–2000 school year, the sports teams were known as Niles West Indians, a name which was changed to the Wolves so as not to offend Native Americans. Niles West sponsors interscholastic athletic teams for men and women in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, cheerleading, cross country,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

, soccer,

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

, and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

. Men may also compete in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

and football. Women can also compete on the wrestling team and may compete in

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

. While not sponsored by the IHSA, the school also sponsors a Poms team for women. The baseball team has won two IHSA state championships (1971–72 and 1974–75). The girls' basketball team won the IHSA state championship in 1978-79. Niles West Men's gymnastics also won the IHSA state championship for men's gymnastics in 2016.

Notable alumni

* Steven N. Berk, Associate Judge on the

Superior Court of the District of Columbia The Superior Court of the District of Columbia, commonly referred to as DC Superior Court, is the trial court for the District of Columbia, in the United States. It hears cases involving criminal and civil law, as well as family court, landlor ...

; nominated by

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

* Arnie Bernstein, nonfiction writer * Bart Conner,

International Gymnastics Hall of Fame The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City, USA, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of the world's greatest competitors, coaches and authorities in artistic gymnastics. The early IGHO ...

inductee and

Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...

recipient *

Jeffrey Erickson Jeffrey E. Erickson (1958–1992) and Jill Sandra Erickson ( Cohen; 1964–1991) were an American married criminal couple known for committing a series of violent bank robberies. The Ericksons are believed to have committed eight bank ro ...

, bank robber *

Merrick Garland Merrick Brian Garland (born November 13, 1952) is an American lawyer and jurist serving since March 2021 as the 86th United States attorney general. He previously served as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of ...

, 86th Attorney General of the United States, (2021– ) *

Kahmora Hall Kahmora Hall (born September 13, 1991) is the stage name of Paul Tran, a drag performer most known for competing on season 13 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Career Kahmora Hall was the first contestant eliminated from season 13 of ''RuPaul's Drag ...

, drag queen and

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

contestant *

Jim Hart (American football) James Warren Hart (born April 29, 1944) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1966 through 1983 and the Washington Redskins in 1984. Early life Hart was raise ...

, NFL quarterback (1966-1984), most notably for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, selected to four Pro Bowls * Paul Igasaki, former Chief Judge of

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Administrative Review Board The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the detainees held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The purpose of the Board is to re ...

* George Kontos, former

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

pitcher and sports commentator for

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* George Kotsiopoulos, television host, author, and former magazine editor * John S. Koudounis, CEO of Calamos Investments *

Gary Kremen Gary Kremen (born 20 September 1963) is an American engineer, entrepreneur and politician who founded the personals site Match.com, was the first registrant of Sex.com and founder of Clean Power Finance, and is a board member of the Santa Clara Val ...

, founder of

Match.com Match is an online dating service with web sites serving over 50 countries in twelve languages. Its headquarters are in Dallas, Texas. The company has offices in Dallas, West Hollywood, San Francisco, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Beijing. Match is ...

* Jewell Loyd, a professional basketball player currently playing for the Seattle Storm of the WNBA (league champion, 2018, 2020), Gold Medal,

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. Her number 32 retired by Niles West High School. *

Rashard Mendenhall Rashard Jamal Mendenhall (born June 19, 1987) is a former American football running back and current television writer who played in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons. He played college football at Illinois and was drafted b ...

, former football player, Huffington Post contributor, and writer for HBO's ''

Ballers ''Ballers'' is an American sports comedy drama television series created by Stephen Levinson and starring Dwayne Johnson as Spencer Strasmore, a retired NFL player who must navigate his new career of choice as the financial manager of other NF ...

'' *

George Papadopoulos George Demetrios Papadopoulos (; born August 19, 1987) is an author and former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. On October 5, 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to a felony charge of maki ...

, policy adviser * Atour Sargon, Assyrian American activist and politician * Maya Schenwar, editor-in-chief of Truthout and a writer focused on prison-related topics * Rick Singer, mastermind of 2019 college admissions bribery scandal * Todd Sucherman, Styx drummer * Byron Udell, author and businessman

References

External links

Official website

District 219 Niles Township High Schools
{{authority control High schools in Skokie, Illinois Public high schools in Cook County, Illinois 1959 establishments in Illinois Educational institutions established in 1959