Niles West High School


Niles West High School, officially Niles Township High School West or NWHS, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago in the United States. It is part of Niles Township Community High School District 219, which also includes Niles North High School. 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, Fairview South School, Lincoln Hall Middle School, Culver Middle School, and Park View School.

History

Niles West High School sits on over an acre of land. The school opened in 1959.
In 1996, the Niles Township Federation of Teachers went on a strike 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. The average class size is 19.2. In 2012, Newsweek ranked Niles West on its list of the Top 1000 Public Schools in the nation.
Recently, many 8th or 7th graders have been attending Niles West high school as part as an off-level program. These 7th/8th graders have been arriving primarily from Fairview Middle School, a feeder school, but some kids have come from Park View Middle School or Lincoln Junior High School.

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.

Athletics

Niles West competes in the Central Suburban League and Illinois High School Association. 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.
Niles West sponsors interscholastic athletic teams for men and women in basketball, cheerleading, cross country, golf, gymnastics, soccer, water polo, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, and volleyball. Men may also compete in baseball and football. Women 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 women.
The baseball team has won two IHSA state championships. 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