University Laboratory High School (Urbana, Illinois)

The University of Illinois Laboratory High School, also known as Uni High or just Uni, was established in 1921 and is a laboratory school located on the engineering section of the University of Illinois campus in Urbana, Illinois. Its enrollment is approximately 300 students, spanning five years (the traditional grades 9– 12, preceded by an 8th grade year known as the "subfreshman" year). The school is notable for the achievements of its alumni, including three Nobel laureates and a Pulitzer Prize winner. In 2006 and 2008 it was recognized as a "public elite" school by ''Newsweek'' because of its students' high scores on the SAT. Before the recent change in the SAT's format, the average SAT score was 2045, and now varies from 1400 to 1600. As of 2019, the average SAT was a 1470. The average ACT score is a 32.

Funding and relationship to the University of Illinois

Uni is funded through the statewide per-pupil distribution financed in the Illinois state budget,
the University of Illinois Provost's office, and donations by alumni and parents of current students. Uni does not receive any property tax revenue due to enrollment being competitive vs. dependent upon residency in a particular district.

For many years, the school was funded by the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign as an institution to experiment with educational curricula and to teach university students majoring in education. The University of Illinois withdrew most of its support in the early 1980s. The "laboratory" aspect persists in certain classes. An experimental math course on was taught in the early 2000s and teachers continue to experiment in small, creative, ways.

The relationship to the University provides a number of benefits to the students. Students get full access to the University's library system†. Students over the age of 15 with sufficiently high grades can enroll in courses at the University. Credit earned in this manner may then be applied to future study at the university level. Additionally, Kenney Gym, the University's former men's gymnasium, is used by Uni for physical education and by the volleyball and basketball teams.

† The high school library is a branch of the University library system and for this reason has been called "the largest high school library in the world."

Admissions and academics

Students apply to enter Uni as part of the incoming "subfreshmen" class which, although composed of seventh and eighth grade aged students, completes a year at eighth grade level before continuing on to the ninth grade. Roughly 65 students are admitted each year, keeping the school's total enrollment near 320 students. Admission decisions are based on previous academic history, extracurriculars, teacher recommendations, a personal statement, and a timed writing sample. The school no longer requires scores on the Secondary School Admission Test as part of its admission process. Students may apply during their sixth or seventh grade years. Whether immediately after graduation, the vast majority of students go on to enter a four-year college or university, although some choose to defer a year to study abroad, volunteer, or work.

Extracurriculars

Uni has had numerous successes in interscholastic competitions, including competitive chess (administered by the Illinois High School Association) and academic competitions. Students also participate in many clubs through the school, both for fun and to give back to their community.

Chess

The school's chess team has won the IHSA's team chess tournament seven times (1978, 1979, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1994, and 2009) and has been runner-up three times (1976, 1980, 1989). They came in second in the US National Championship in 1978 on a tiebreak. Members of that team included Thomas Krause, Robert Sah, Mark Zvilius, Jonathan Atkin, and Steven Schran. The team was coached by David Sprenkle, a Uni alum and ranked chess master. Currently, the school has no competitive chess program.

Tennis

The school's tennis team did not achieve a winning team record until 2014, but recently has enjoyed a period of regional dominance behind a variety of star players. Uni achieved an 8-1 record in 2017, powered by the duo of Van Gunderson and Samuel Li. Gunderson and Li won second place at the IHSA Sectional tournament, and finished tied for 25th. In 2018, Gunderson and Li were joined by freshman singles player Zachary Donnini, who helped lead the team to a 10-3 record and the team's first sectional championship. Donnini was joined by Krishna Subbiah on the New-Gazette all-area first team. This was the first of Donnini's three all-area first team appearances. After Gunderson's graduation, a group of talented up-and-coming players—Arjun Tangella, Akash Pradeshi, and Arav Jagroop—helped Uni defend their sectional title in 2019. Donnini teamed up with Tangella to lead Uni High to their second consecutive sectional championship, defeating Centennial 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 to clinch the first individual section championship for Uni High Tennis in over 5 years. Li and Subbiah qualified for state as a doubles pair, and Pradeshi qualified as a singles player, making it the second year in a row Uni had sent five different players to state. Subbiah retired as the winningest player in Uni High History, collecting a previously unprecedented 74 varsity wins in his four years on the team.

After the 2020 season was cancelled because of the COVID-19 outbreak, Uni High Tennis returned with a new look in 2021. Only Donnini and Jagroop (now senior double partners) returned from the previous Uni High Tennis Dynasty, but Uni hoped that fresh talent would allow them to collect their third consecutive sectional title. Senior Lucas Wood and Freshman Aryan Sachdev proved to be important pieces of the roster, and ultimately helped lead the team to a 12-3 record, the most regular season wins in school history. Donnini and Jagroop failed to live up to their high expectations for the majority of the season, disappointingly finishing third in the IHSA sectional tournament after a crushing semi-final loss to Central in the semifinals. Uni only finished second as a team in their IHSA Sectional, breaking their streak of team sectional championships. Lucas Wood proved to be a surprising bright spot considering he was a senior with no varsity experience, playing #2 singles by the end of the year and finishing second at the IHSA Sectional tournament. Wood would ultimately finish tied for 33rd at the IHSA State Tournament, ending an extremely successful season. Only the 16 Seed entering the IHSA State Tournament, Donnini and Jagroop enjoyed a surprise run to the state semifinals to conclude their high school tennis career. Powered by Donnini's crushing heavy-western forehand and Jagroop's net-play, athleticism, and coolness on the court, the duo defeated (#5) Mt. Zion 6-4, 6-4 to qualify for the quarter-finals and subsequently dominated (#12) Vernon Grove 6-2, 6-0 to make the semi-finals. Although Donnini and Jagroop suffered a disappointing 6-0, 7-6(4) loss to (#2) Metamora, they lead Uni High to a Top 10 finish at the State Tournament for the first time in school history. Donnini and Jagroop also became the first tennis players from the Champaign-Urbana metro area to make the state semi-finals in over 65 years, and were greeted back in Urbana by over 3,000 (estimates vary) loyal and ecstatic fans eager to congratulate the pair on their historic run.

Academic teams

Uni High has several academic teams that compete each year and typically place highly in their respective competitions. These include Science Olympiad, Scholastic Bowl, WYSE Academic Challenge, Japan Bowl, and various math competitions.

The Uni High Scholastic Bowl team has qualified for the IHSA State Competition in four consecutive years, placing 4th in 2014 and 1st in 2015 in Class A before being bumped to Class AA and finishing 2nd in 2017. Throughout the season, which roughly runs from September to March, the team participates in a variety of tournaments and competitions. The program was started as a club in 2013 by Bruce Li and members of the Class of 2015, who then secured sponsorship from the school's administration to begin competing as a team in the 2013-2014 season. Uni has since grown into one of the strongest teams in the state, winning the NAQT State Championship in 2018 and the IHSA Class AA State Championship in 2019. In 2019, Uni placed second at the National Academic Quiz Tournaments High School Championship and third at the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence National Scholastic Championship.

Since 1997, Uni has been an annual participant in the Academic Challengebr>
which consists of a series of tests in various academic fields, including biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering design, English, mathematics, and physics. The competition is open to high schools in Illinois and Missouri. For nine consecutive years from 1998 to 2006, as well as in 2008, 2009 and 2011, Uni was the state champion in the smallest division (enrollment under 300). In 2007, Uni competed in the next larger division and placed 2nd, despite the school's smaller enrollment in the 9th through 12th grades.

Service clubs

Uni High's Habitat for Humanity club works with the Clarksdale, MS Habitat affiliate. They hold several fundraisers throughout the year in order to send money to Clarksdale, as well as having an annual trip to Clarksdale every February during Agora Days where students work on houses. The club was founded by history teacher Bill Sutton and run by him until his retirement in 2017. The club is now run by history teacher Ben Leff. Several Uni alums have moved to the Clarksdale area to work with Habitat for Humanity or to work in various schools and after-school programs. Uni High's connection to Clarksdale allowed Uni High alumna Anja Theissen and Bianca Zarahescu to found Spring Initiative, a program which mentors students and prepares them for greater academic success, personal growth, and an opportunity to overcome poverty.

Uni has a Food Pantry club that volunteers at and raises money for the Wesley Food Pantry. The school also has a club called United for Uganda, which raises money for a grassroots organization in Uganda calle
Come Let's Dance
During the 2013-2014 school year, the club started a program through Come Let's Dance to sponsor a child in Uganda's education each year.

School traditions

Agora Days (since 1977)

Another example of creative freedom is Agora Days, a four-day school week in late February when students, parents, faculty, alumni and friends of the school can teach hour-long classes about a wide range of topics, which have included popular cake decorating and massage classes. Students are required to take a number of academic-oriented classes, but classes based on playing sports, watching films or TV series, and studying video games also exist. Students have the same eight-hour schedule on each of the four days.

The Wylde Q. Chicken Award (since 1998)

The Wylde Q. Chicken Award, sponsored by the graduating class of 1972, is meant to recognize "spontaneous creativity," "unbidden originality," and "extraordinary acts in ordinary circumstances." It is awarded annually at the end of the school year; recipients are chosen by a panel of judges from the class of 1972 along with past winners of the award. Previous winners have included a series of promotional posters for the 50 states in the first floor restrooms, the staging of the American Revolution in comic strip form, and a Gilbert and Sullivan-style adaptation of Shakespeare's ''Macbeth''.

X-Week (2013-20??) / X-Dinner (since 20??-present)

X-Week is an annual fundraising tradition at the school. Members of Student Council choose one or two charities, which are usually local, to donate the money to. Each day, a different class hosts a fundraiser. The senior class hosts the annual Senior Auction during the Friday of X-Week every year. They auction off a wide variety of items, which usually include class notes and baked goods, as well as more eccentric options such as a movie night at a teacher's house or the opportunity to go on a safari with a few members of the senior class. The culminating event of X-Week is Big Show, a comedic, student-led production. In recent years, the multiple events of X-Week have been discarded in favor of a joint X-Dinner leading up to Big Show.

Senior Project (since 2014)

The Senior Project was developed by Assistant Director of Student Life Karl Radnitzer, who got the idea from a similar program at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL. The project's goal is to allow second semester seniors to explore interests in a more career-oriented way than they would in a typical classroom setting. The project connects students with mentors in the Champaign-Urbana community who can help them explore their academic interests outside of the school building. Students come up with ideas for projects and submit them for approval to a Senior Project committee. If a project is approved, students then spend their second semester doing work for their project around three times a week. Students have worked in various labs at the University of Illinois, at the Crisis Nursery, at Carle Hospital, and at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

Subfreshman Oral History Project (since ??)

Every year, the subfreshman social studies class spends part of the second semester working on an oral history project. Social Studies teacher Melissa Schoeplein's class works with WILL radio station to conduct interviews on a certain topic, which varies by year. Past topics have included inside views of the military, people with disabilities, counterculture, the right to marry, and affirmative action in education. Subfreshmen are split into groups to conduct interviews. Each group member is assigned a role (either interviewer, team captain, technician, or scribe) in the interview, and the groups spend several weeks researching relevant information on their subject's life before conducting the interview. A group of older students, called WILL Interns, work with the interview material produced by the subfreshmen and turn it into an hour-long documentary published on the WIL
Illinois Youth Media
page.

Athletics

Despite the school's small enrollment, Uni offers five no-cut sports for boys (Cross Country, Soccer, Basketball, Track & Field and Tennis) and six no-cut sports for girls (Cross Country, Swimming, Volleyball, Basketball, Soccer, and Track & Field), which all usually compete in the IHSA 1A division. Members of the subfreshman class also have the opportunity to participate in Cross Country, Track & Field, and Basketball.

Building

The building which houses University Laboratory High School was constructed from 1917 through 1918 and was designed by Holabird & Roche in the Late Gothic Revival style, with James M. White as the supervising architect. An earlier design for an "H"-shaped structure with two wings had been rejected in 1914, and it was not until May 1916 that the go-ahead was given to begin construction on the new design, which was estimated to cost $143,500.

When the building was completed, it was almost immediately converted into a general hospital for the Students’ Army Training Corp and School of Military Aeronautics for the duration of World War I. It was turned over to the high school in time for the beginning of the 1921-22 school year.

Controversies

Financial deficit

In 2014, an accounting review revealed that Uni had accumulated a debt of $1.05 million as a result of teacher salaries being charged to an account that was no longer active. As an effort to correct this error, (now former) director Jeff Walkington assembled a Strategic Vision Task Force to identify improvements to Uni's budget model. The task force concluded that beyond the immediate issue of the $1.05 million dollar debt, Uni's budget was fundamentally unsustainable, and proposed solutions included charging tuition, making Uni into a charter school, and requesting more funding from the office of the provost at UIUC. However, as of spring 2019, this debt had not been rectified.

2006 girls track assistant coach arrest

In 2007, Uni High girls' track assistant coach Yuri Ermakov was convicted of criminal sexual assault, specifically sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl in 2005-2006, and distributing alcohol to minors in 2006. He was given a 12-year prison sentence, which he served in 2010-2020 in the Illinois Department of Corrections facility.

2020 girls cross country head coach arrest

In 2020, after a 20+ year career coaching the girls' and boys' cross country and track teams, head coach Doug Mynatt was convicted of three counts of distribution and possession of child pornography, which he had viewed both from his home in Savoy, Illinois and from University of Illinois IP addresses. He pleaded guilty to all charges, and additionally admitted to having sexual relationships with two former students after they had graduated. Mynatt was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, a sentence on the low end of the sentencing guidelines and motivated in part by the 45-page letter of support he received from sympathetic Uni teachers, faculty, and parents, along with several UIUC professors.

Notable alumni and faculty

Three alumni are Nobel Prize laureates:
* Philip W. Anderson (class of 1940), for Physics in 1977
* Hamilton O. Smith (class of 1948), for Medicine in 1978
* James Tobin (class of 1935), for Economics in 1981

Other major award winners include:
* George Will (class of 1959), Pulitzer Prize for Commentary (1977)
* Eugie Foster (class of 1988), Nebula Award–winning (2009) author

Other notable alumni include (sorted by class year):
* Tina Howe (class of 1955), American playwright best known for '' Painting Churches'' and ''Coastal Disturbances''; the latter received a Tony Award nomination for best play in 1987
* Mary Murphy Schroeder (class of 1958), Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
* George Thomas Frampton Jr. (class of 1961), lawyer and environmentalist
* Francine Patterson (class of 1965), an animal psychologist noted as the teacher of Koko, the gorilla who could sign 1000 words and understand 2000 signs.
* Frederick Marx (class of 1973), film-maker, producer of the award-winning documentary ''Hoop Dreams''
* Theodore Gray (class of 1982), a co-founder of Wolfram Research and winner of the Ig Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2002
* Iris Chang (class of 1985) was a journalist and author (''The Rape of Nanking''), and was the subject of the book ''Finding Iris Chang''.
* Nina Paley (class of 1986), cartoonist, animator, free culture activist
* Rahul Pandharipande (class of 1986), mathematician and professor at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), Clay Research Award recipient
* Daniel Shapiro (class of 1986), U.S. ambassador to Israel
* Shamit Kachru (class of 1987), string theory specialist at Stanford University
* Paul Debevec (class of 1988), Academy Award–winning (2010) researcher in computer graphics
* Jeremy Hobson (class of 1999), co-host of NPR's ''Here and Now''
* Tony Khan (class of 2001), Founder, co-owner, president, and CEO of All Elite Wrestling, co-owner and Vice Chairman/Director of Football Operations of Fulham F.C., co-owner and Senior Vice President of Football Technology & Analytics of Jacksonville Jaguars
* Sasha Velour (class of 2004), ''Rupaul's Drag Race'' season 9 winner
* Jonathan Kuck (class of 2007), speedskater who won a silver medal in the team pursuit for the U.S. in the 2010 Winter Olympics
* Ema Rajić (class of 2018), swimmer who competed for the Croatian team in the 2020 Summer Olympics

Notable faculty include:
* Prof. Max Beberman, member of the math faculty from 1950–1971, head of University of Illinois Committee on School Mathematics and Director of the Curriculum Laboratory, contributed to the development of and widely known as "The Father of the New Math".A Guide to the Max Beberman Film Collection, ca. 1950-1960, Briscoe Center for American History, U. Texas at Austin
/ref>

References

Notes

External links

University High home page

University High student newspaper, the Gargoyle, online version

The Wylde Q. Chicken Award: Honoring Uni students who exhibit spontaneous creativity

David R. Woolley on the origin of the Wylde Q. Chicken Award

The Flow of History

{{DEFAULTSORT:University Laboratory High School Of Urbana, Illinois
Gifted education
Public high schools in Illinois
Laboratory schools in the United States
Educational institutions established in 1921
University-affiliated schools in the United States
Schools in Champaign County, Illinois
1921 establishments in Illinois
Projects by Holabird & Root
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign