Englewood STEM High School Debuts After Four School Closures

  • By Yvonne Marquez
  • 09/03/19

Englewood STEM High School in Chicago is open this week after the district closed down four high schools due to lack of academic achievement and under enrollment of students. Over the past decade the schools — Hope, Harper, TEAM and Robeson — experienced a 70%-85% declines in student enrollment, reported the Chicago Tribune.

The $85 million neighborhood school is brightly lit, with lots of windows and features colorful murals and inspirational words on the walls that integrates STEM symbols with traditional West African art patterns.

The new three-story building was built on the grounds of the former Robeson campus which closed in 2018. More than 400 students are registered to start the school year and nearly all students are African American. In addition, 88% of students are low-income and 22% are “diverse learners,” meaning they have different learning needs.

The $85 million neighborhood school is brightly lit, with lots of windows and features colorful murals and inspirational words on the walls that integrates STEM symbols with traditional West African art patterns.  

“One of the things that we were really adamant about was the power of images, and how images play in how people see themselves,” Principal Conrad Timbers-Ausar told the Chicago Sun-Times. “There’s some images that we wanted to have as students and families come to the school that they can see themselves doing different things throughout the building.”

Englewood STEM, which is the first new school to be built since the 1970s in the neighborhood, has an on-site health clinic on the first floor that’s open to students, staff and the community. Chicago Public Schools calls the classrooms in the high school as “world-class multipurpose educational spaces” where students will focus on science, technology, engineering and math. The gym/auditorium seats about 800 and the grounds feature an athletic facility with a baseball diamond and football field.

The school’s mascot is the panthers, which was chosen by community vote and inspired by the blockbuster film “Black Panther.”

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Empowering People Through Smart, Sustainable Campuses

    Sustainability is facing increasing scrutiny, with some questioning its costs and priorities. Yet for universities, it remains an essential driver of resilience, operational efficiency and long-term competitiveness. At the same time, there is a growing recognition that sustainable transformation is not just about reducing energy consumption and emissions to comply with tightening regulations ‒ it’s about creating vibrant, comfortable environments where people can thrive, innovate and connect. For university leadership, this is a complex balancing act, with rising energy costs and limited budgets only adding to the challenge.

  • Ancient Resilience: How Indigenous Intelligence Shapes the 4Roots Education Building

    As climate change intensifies, educational spaces must evolve beyond basic sustainability toward true resilience – we must design environments that can adapt, respond, and thrive amid shifting, and intensifying, climate hazards. Drawing on indigenous wisdom and nature-based strategies, integrating resilient design offers a path to create learning environments that are not only functional but deeply in tune with their natural surroundings.

  • Uvalde Schools Receive AI Security Technology through Grant Program

    AI-powered gun detection and emergency response technology solutions provider Omnilert recently launched the Save Haven Grant program, according to a news release. The first recipient of the grant, aimed specifically at schools that have faced gun violence, will be the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (Uvalde CISD) in Uvalde, Texas.

  • Gretna East High School

    Gretna East High School

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. Gretna East High School has been recognized with an EDS 2025 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

Digital Edition