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.
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.
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]
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.
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]
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]
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]
Jewell Loyd, a professional basketball player currently playing for the Seattle Storm of the WNBA (league champion, 2018, 2020), Gold Medal, Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Her number 32 retired by Niles West High School.
Rashard Mendenhall, former football player, Huffington Post contributor, and writer for HBO's Ballers