University Laboratory High School

A department in University of Illinois. On University of Illinois campus.

TODAY’S STUDENT BODY
Today, about 70 percent of Uni students participate in fine arts activities, and the school’s “no-cut” athletic policies encourage about 70 percent to participate in sports.

As in the early days of the school, virtually all graduates go on to college, although some defer their college careers for a year or two in favor of service programs in this country or travel, both near and far. Alumni data show that about 40 percent of Uni High graduates earn bachelor’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a figure that has remained fairly constant for several decades.

While some outside the school perceive Uni as a school for children of U of I faculty, in fact only about one-third of the students enrolled in the 1990s have a faculty parent. Students from as far away as Danville, Paxton and Effingham attend the school and are integral to its diverse population. About 85 percent of current students reside in Champaign-Urbana.

Central Illinois

2 counselors and 1 college counselor

Mac Lab and PC Lab; individual "smart lab" capbabilities in classrooms

Too many to mention; devised by and for the students.

No

None

MISSION STATEMENT
As a catalyst for educational innovation, University Laboratory High School seeks to spark the creative fervor and high aspirations of talented young people; to inspire them to excellence; to challenge them through traditional and experimental strategies; to ignite their potential for active, responsible involvement in the adult world; and to influence positively the larger educational community.

LAB MISSION
As a public laboratory high school, Uni serves as a center for research and development for the improvement of public secondary education. Uni is involved in projects designed to improve curriculum, instruction, and learning practices. Such projects may include:

• Testing of new instructional procedures and practices;
• Diagnostic testing to assess instructional outcomes;
• Development and testing of new curricula;
• Classroom observation by trained observers;
• Audio or video recording of classes and laboratories;
• Testing of new classroom and school management practices.

The Uni High Era Begins

The building finally opened its doors as a school on Sept. 12, 1921, welcoming 63 students and 14 faculty members.

The instructional program at the University High School was similar in most respects to high school programs throughout the central part of the state. For a tuition fee of $25 per semester, the same fee charged to University students, high school pupils could study English, the social sciences, mathematics, science, foreign languages, music, art and design, home economics and industrial education. Although there is no evidence that girls enrolled in industrial education in the 1920s, a one-half year course in home economics was offered for boys of junior and senior standing.

The new high school did not totally abandon the tradition begun by the Preparatory School: It offered a course in advanced algebra primarily for students who planned to enter the College of Engineering. Only three years of math were offered, but the four-year science curriculum included classes in general science, botany, zoology, chemistry and physics.

The 1922 Uni High graduating class of 15 students included seven who had transferred from high schools in Champaign and Urbana, two had come from Philo and the remainder, except for a student from Tennessee who was living with relatives in town, were from rural areas throughout Illinois. Their parents' occupations ranged from elevator operator, postal clerk, dressmaker and watchman to engineer, surgeon and professor. Three students were children of parents associated with the University. Two were children of professors and one had a father who worked in the mail department at the University stadium.

A College of Education publication titled "Instructional Activities in the University High School" highlights the wide variety of educational techniques employed by teachers and the degree to which many staff members were student-oriented rather than simply subject-matter oriented.

The University High School Gymnasium was not constructed until 1926 at a cost of $30,000. Prior to that time, the South Attic was used for physical activities, and basketball backboards of some unknown vintage were just removed in 1996 as part of renovations of that space to improve acoustics and lighting for the orchestra, chorus and jazz band programs.

The Best-Laid Plans

Twenty years later, in 1943, plans for a new University High School building were under way. Although the project got no further than the planning stage, the preliminary scheme called for a structure that would have been one of the University's most imposing buildings.

The basic plan for a new University High School goes back to 1937 when a proposal was brought before the Board of Trustees to extend Main Street through Illinois Field. The construction of a new College of Education practice school would then have been undertaken -- moving the school from its present site about two blocks north and adding facilities for prekindergarten-age children. The southern part of Illinois Field would have housed the practice school, and the Men's Old Gymnasium was to be assigned wholly or partially to Uni. The Gymnasium "Annex" was tentatively scheduled for conversion to some other use. The proposal suggested that the old University High School building be remodeled for the use of the College of Engineering or the Department of Journalism.

In 1944, the College of Education noted in a 17-page report: "On the whole, the (Uni) building is not very satisfactory and in many respects inadequate for the educational program which this school is expected to provide. It is indeed too bad that a school of this design and purpose should be so handicapped in regard to a gymnasium, locker rooms, and showers … .

"Lacking an auditorium, the University High School has been using a fourth-floor attic for this purpose. It is now necessary to question such use as a result of unsafe conditions reported by the University Fire Station. In view of the University's obligation to follow the accepted public building codes, it seems that serious consideration should be given to discontinuing the future use of this area."

Along with these criticisms of the present high school building, the College of Education also included in the report an outline of a proposed new site in what is now north of Illini Grove, the site of the Lincoln Avenue Residence Halls.

Preliminary plans called for a building of 225,000 square feet to house a nursery school, kindergarten, elementary school, secondary school, and the classrooms and administrative offices of the College of Education. The entire complex included two gymnasiums, one two-story auditorium, a swimming pool, and a cafeteria. Some members of the College also suggested the building of a junior college next to the laboratory school. Obviously, most of the changes called for in this proposal never moved beyond preliminary consideration except for the turning over of the Old Mens' Gym (Kenney Gym) to Uni High for its physical education and athletics programs.

More recently, in December 1962, a College of Education committee reported that funds for a new school were urgently requested. The committee's tentative plan called for an experimental school to accommodate an enrollment of 700 pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 on an unspecified 25-acre site. Like earlier proposals, this one also failed to materialize.

Today's Student Body

Today, about 70 percent of Uni students participate in fine arts activities, and the school's "no-cut" athletic policies encourage about 70 percent to participate in sports.

As in the early days of the school, virtually all graduates go on to college, although some defer their college careers for a year or two in favor of service programs in this country or travel, both near and far. Alumni data show that about 40 percent of Uni High graduates earn bachelor's degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a figure that has remained fairly constant for several decades.

While some outside the school perceive Uni as a school for children of U of I faculty, in fact only about one-third of the students enrolled in the 1990s have a faculty parent. Students from as far away as Danville, Paxton and Effingham attend the school and are integral to its diverse population. About 85 percent of current students reside in Champaign-Urbana.

Today, the operating budget of University High School is funded from three main sources: Approximately 60 percent of its operating expenses is funded by the Illinois State Board of Education through the general state aid formula. The university provides salary support, utilities and building maintenance. Voluntary contributions from parents cover 25 percent of costs. Because it is not part of a local school district, Uni receives no local property tax dollars.

Instead, Uni parents contribute about $400,000 in tax-deductible donations a year to support the school while alumni, alumni parents, friends and corporate supporters donate another $75,000 to the annual fund and the Endowment Fund, begun in the 1980s. The Endowment is now approaching a market value of $200,000.

UNI ALUMNI: A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE
Uni’s some 3,000 graduates and attendees since 1922 can be found pursuing an array of interesting vocations and avocations. Some have joined the ranks of the professions and trades, while others have become educators, scientists, businessmen, administrators and artists.

Uni has the distinction of counting three Nobel Prize laureates among its graduates:

• Philip W. Anderson, Class of 1940, won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1977.
• Hamilton O. Smith, Class of 1948, received the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1978.
• James Tobin, Class of 1935 won the Nobel Prize for economics in 1981.

Uni also counts Pulitzer Prize-winning writer George Will, Class of 1958, among its alumni. His conservative views appear via a column syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group in newspapers across the nation and Newsweek magazine. He is a regular panelist on the ABC Sunday morning news program “This Week,” and he has written a bestselling book on baseball titled “Men at Work.”

Award-winning playwright Tina Howe was a member of the Uni Class of 1955. Her works include “The Art of Dining,” “Painting Churches,” “Museum,” “Coastal Disturbances,” “One Shoe Off,” and, most recently, “Pride’s Crossing.”

Of more recent note is Frederick Marx, Uni Class of 1973, who is one of three co-producers of the much-touted documentary “Hoop Dreams,” with its climactic ending filmed at the U of I Assembly Hall. Marx’s work was nominated for Best Documentary Editing in 1994 by the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In addition, the late William Max Harnish, a member of the Uni Class of 1937, distinguished himself by attaining the starred rank of Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy in 1968. Harnish was decorated at least seven times, receiving the Legion of Merit twice, the Distinguished Flying Cross Air Medal three times and the Navy Commendation Medal twice.

Uni also is the alma mater of a former Postmaster General, Ben Bailar, Class of 1951; a federal judge, Mary Murphy Schroeder, U.S Circuit Judge, Ninth Circuit, and Class of 1958; world-renowned author Iris Chang, who wrote “The Rape of Nanking,” Class of 1985; and Lucia Lin, Class of 1979, a former concert mistress of the London Symphony Orchestra now with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Closer to home, Uni alums have recently been at the helms of three downstate Illinois cities in the mid-1990s: Dannel McCollum, Class of 1954, has been mayor of Champaign; Kent Karraker, also Class of 1954, is mayor of Normal; and Todd Satterthwaite, Class of 1971, is mayor of Urbana. Francis ‘Bud’ Barker, Class of 1955, also has served as chairman of the Champaign County Board.. Jonathan Kuck, class of 2007, competed in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, earning the silver medal in speed skating. Paul Debevec, class of 1988, a research associate professor in computer graphics at the University of Southern California, won a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award for his work in computer-generated imagery and lighting.

In recent years, Uni students have won first place four times and taken second place honors once in the international National Science Teachers Association/Toshiba ExploraVision competition, the world's largest technology competition. They've earned $160,000 in scholarships through this competition.

In closing, it may be appropriate to share an observation made by former Uni Principal Royer at Uni’s Grand Reunion held in 1985. He said:

“Institutions age as people do, slowly and while no one is looking. Uni High, through most of its history, has been engaged in struggles: to establish an identity, to find a home, to discover what are the best ways of educating young people, to ask questions about how we learn and what it is that is worth learning... .

“We’ve become more than an institution, we’ve become a family, a family that has drawn together over the basic issues of education and its values. We have a history and a national reputation for excellence. But the process of becoming goes on. Ten years from now, or fifty, we will have become something else. There will be more ghosts in the halls, striding with youthful steps and with laughter.”

Student Handbook and Curriculum guide is posted on our web page.

concurrent enrollment

Concurrent enrollment allows students to pursue interests beyond the University Laboratory High School curriculum.  Therefore, students may not take courses which duplicate Uni courses. Enrollment forms are available in the Student Services Office and the student must follow the procedures and application deadlines that are set by Uni High.

Courses taken as concurrent enrollment during the academic school year may count towards fulfillment of the 300-minute rule. Courses taken as concurrent enrollment do not count toward graduation requirements.

INDEPENDENT STUDY PROCEDURES

Students may elect to take independent study courses with the Uni faculty or with professors at the University of Illinois.  Independent studies usually involve studying specific topics more in-depth that what one would experience in a regular course.  The following criteria apply.

Criteria for Independent Study

1.             The independent study contract must represent a study opportunity that is above and beyond the courses offered in the Uni High curriculum.  Independent study proposals that duplicate courses offered at Uni will not be considered.

2.             The independent study contract should enhance the laboratory mission of Uni High.

3.             Independent study courses do not satisfy the 300 minute rule.

Athletics and IHSA Activities

Overview — Uni High sponsors the following high school teams:

• Fall Sports — Mid-August thru late October/early November

                                    Girls        Boys

                                    Cross Country         Cross Country

                                    Swimming               Soccer

                                    Volleyball

• Winter Sports — Early November thru late February

                                    Girls        Boys

                                    Basketball                Basketball

• Mid-Winter/Spring Sports — January thru May

                                    Girls        Boys

                                    Track       Track

• Spring Sports — March thru May

                                    Girls       

Soccer

The following sports are offered for subfreshmen:

• Cross Country — Girls & Boys (late August thru late October)

• Basketball — Girls (October thru early December)

• Basketball — Boys (November thru January)

• Track — Girls & Boys (January thru May)