Niles West High School
Niles West High School (NWHS), officially Niles Township High School West, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago, in the United States. NWHS is part of the Niles Township Community High School District 219, which also includes Niles North High School. The name of the school teams originally was the Indians, which later was changed to the Wolves, in 2001. The feeder middle-schools for NWHS are Lincoln Junior High School (Skokie), Fairview South School (Skokie), Lincoln Hall Middle School (Lincolnwood), Culver Middle School (Niles), and Park View School (Morton Grove). Niles West High School also matriculates many students from MCC Academy, Morton Grove, Illinois.
Academics[edit]
In 2007, Niles West had an average composite ACT score of 22.3, and graduated 93.2% of its senior class.[6] The average class size was 19.2.[6] 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.[7]
Student life[edit]
Activities[edit]
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.[8] Starting in the 2010–2011 school year, the print newspaper was retired, renamed "Niles West News", and moved online.
Fine arts[edit]
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.[9]
In summer 2010, the Niles West High School Theatre Department performed at the 2010 American High School Theatre Festival in Scotland.[10]
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.[11]
Athletics[edit]
Niles West competes in the Central Suburban League and Illinois High School Association (IHSA). Teams are stylized as the Wolves.
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.[12]
Niles West sponsors interscholastic athletic teams for boys and girls in basketball, cheerleading, cross country, golf, gymnastics, soccer, water polo, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, and volleyball. Boys may also compete in baseball and football. Girls can also compete on the wrestling team and may compete in softball. While not sponsored by the IHSA, the school also sponsors a poms team for girls.[13]
The baseball team has won two IHSA state championships (1971–72 and 1974–75).[14] The girls basketball team won the IHSA state championship in 1978-79.[14]
Niles West also won the IHSA state championship for boys gymnastics in 2016.[15]