With Illinois Campaign

University of Illinois Laboratory High School

Celebrating the impact of your generosity

Uni High School is thrilled to have been one of three units on campus to achieve our $10M goal 3 years early, through the generosity of donors to the With Illinois campaign. The campaign has helped us make meaningful progress in providing opportunities for a wider variety of students, and funding critical programs. It has also provided our faculty with robust professional development resources and essential learning materials, helping our teachers create innovative curriculum and inspiring our students to greater heights in critical thinking, problem-solving, and intellectual inquiry. The With Illinois campaign has enabled Uni High to advance our commitment to serving exceptional students from all backgrounds and neighborhoods while maintaining our hundred-year tradition of academic excellence and discovery.

Dr. Elizabeth Majerus
Director and Principal, University Laboratory High School

With Illinois Impact

As we mark the end of the With Illinois Campaign, Uni High has been transformed by donor support.

14565978 Dollars Raised

3475 Campaign Donors

549 First-Time Donors

15 New Unrestricted Funds

Donors from 45 States and 12 Countries

With Illinois Highlights

Your support has helped us continue to elevate the values that make Illinois distinctive: a sense of boundless aspiration, collaboration, and a global perspective.

Uni High WITH Illinois Campaign Board

Thank you University Laboratory High School WITH Illinois Campaign Board: John Finch ’52; Janet ’72 & David Peshkin ’73; G. Blaine Garst ’74; Irene Strohbeen ’74; Catherine ’94 & George Gruschow ’95; Tony Khan ’01; Charlie & Julie Shapland, Uni High alumni parents

Updated Classrooms

In 2014, the Innovations in Learning initiative commenced at Uni High to provide an optimal teaching and learning environment for our teachers and students. In tandem with the University of Illinois’ active learning enterprise, Uni is committed to enhancing its learning spaces to encourage collaborative learning with mobile furniture and cutting edge technology.

Innovations in Learning also supports professional development focusing on improved learning spaces, classrooms, and curriculum–such as Virtual Reality instruction. It also provides funding for the execution of research and observation, and provides resources to allow faculty, administrators, and staff to exchange information about learning spaces with other educators, including campus centers and colleges.

Innovations in Learning is a broad initiative centered on enhancing the classroom experience through innovative teaching and learning methods by way of cutting edge technology and/or mobile furniture.

To date we have renovated classrooms: 106N (2015), 106S (2017), Chemistry Lab, Makerspace, & Classroom (2019). Learn more.

Adam Tiouririne Establishes Funds to Launch Uni High Century Celebration Campaign

Adam Tiouririne, Uni Class of 2009, inspired popular support among the Uni community for the Uni High Century Celebration mini-campaign, kicking off a year of celebrations and gearing up for their 100th Birthday celebration to be held October 15th, 2022. Adam is the Executive Communication Advisor and Founder of OpusVox.

His wish was to make an important impact on the school through his gift, by highlighting and building support for the priorities that mean the most to the school. Adam established funds supporting the Faculty, Students, Building, for Equity and Emerging needs providing Uni the momentum to launch a strong and successful mini-campaign, concluding the University of Illinois With Illinois campaign. It is important to Adam that we celebrate Uni High and it’s incredible 100 years of being and also look at the next 100 years ahead of us strong start to the next 100 years of Uni High.

Tiouririne says, “This is a special time to celebrate the 100 years that are behind us but also to build the next 100 years ahead of us and live up to the special place Uni really is, and sustain it for future generations.”

Adam’s inspiration behind his gift comes from his experience at Uni High. He wants Uni to be there for students like the school was for himself. He is the driving force behind the Century Celebration messaging sub-committee and currently serves on the Uni High Alumni Association Board. Learn more.

UI/UX Design Lab

UI/UX Design Lab (making apps) was made possible by the Innovations in Learning fund and is a true STEM field that fuses all together: science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics. Uni High students were introduced to the world of UI/UX design by Professor Shin of the Industrial Design Program at the School of Art and Design. UI/UX is code for user interface/user experience. Learn more.

Remembering Megan Flynn Uni High Class of ‘95

The Family of Megan Flynn, Uni High Class of ’95 established two funds in remembrance of her, making a broad and meaningful impact on both students and faculty at Uni High.

The Megan Flynn award recognizes a senior for their excellence in critical thinking and analytical insight.

The Jockush-Laughlin-Stone Salary Enhancement Award Fund recognizes faculty members for excellence in teaching.

“Megan brought so much joy to her family through her unending accomplishments. Megan was a competitive swimmer, including at the Junior National level. She graduated from Uni high school at 16 and took a gap year in France before starting her undergrad at Yale. Reflecting on Megan’s life, family and friends were struck by Megan’s gentle spirit. She was a private, thoughtful, and a fiercely independent person who was also full of kindness and humility. Her stubborn optimism shone brightly through the ups and downs of her life–Megan would make it through whatever she encountered.” —John Flynn, Brother of Megan

Historic 1.2M Gift was Major Support Behind New Chemistry Lab for Classrooms

Historic $1.2 million gift was major support behind new chemistry lab and some additional tech for classrooms. This Anonymous Uni donor family was also supportive of funds for the tennis program allowing the team to get access to indoor courts earlier in spring.

Yong Park Establishes Fund for Uni High Fee Waivers

The Yong Park Fund has been established in order to help make Uni High fully accessible to promising students from all backgrounds. While Uni is tuition-free, there are fees associated with the application, books, yearly fees, sports, and activities. The Yong Park fund gives us the means to waive those fees for any student who cannot afford them.

We are incredibly grateful for this generous gift that will support our school as we work to ensure that the Uni community is encouraged, stimulated, and supported in our pursuit of equity and inclusion.

Yong Park graduated from Seoul National University and immigrated to the United States in the 1960s to pursue a master’s degree in Accounting at Temple University. After graduation Mr. Park worked for decades as a tax auditor for the California State Board of Equalization, which allowed him to put three daughters through college at the University of Illinois.

Throughout his life, Mr. Park watched with great pride as South Korea progressed from a war-torn nation to one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. He credits this, in large part, to the country’s focus, commitment, and investment in education and technology. Along the same lines, Mr. Park hopes to inspire future generations of students and life-long learners to pursue greater educational opportunities.

Pie chart: Annual Giving $4,504,085.02 31%; All other $10,063,007.86 69%

Every Gift Makes a Difference

Annual Gifts ($1-$24,999) made to Uni High during WITH Illinois accounted for over $4.5 million of the total raised, proving that every gift, no matter the size, makes a difference. Together, Uni High’s community can accomplish the extraordinary.

Uni High Would Like to Express its Gratitude for All of Our Legacy Society Members!

Legacy Society Founding Members

John E. Finch, MD (Class of 1952, Founding Member)
Mr. Charles F. Medrow (Class of 1952) & Mrs. Irene R. Medrow
Dr. Michael J. & Mrs. Mary F. Slattery (Uni Alumni Parents)
Mr. David P. Frankel (Class of 1976)
Mr. Thomas Clark Shedd (Class of 1936)
Mrs. Marian B. Kohlstedt (Class of 1957)
Mr. Craig & Mrs. Sue Causeman (Uni Alumni Parents)
Mr. David T. & Mrs. Irene B. Ang (Class of 1974) Strohbeen
Mr. Gregory L. (Class of 1972) & Mrs. Teresa M. Ives
Dr. Richard A. (Class of 1957) & Mrs. Joan F. Newmark
Dr. Richard W. (Class of 1969) & Mrs. Conna J. Oram
Mr. Arnold (Class of 1984) & Mrs. Kathryn Rudnick
Mr. Walter R. Stewart (Class of 1973) & Mrs. Pamela Hanson-Stewart

With Illinois Moments

Take a look at a few of the moments that have shaped the culture and character of Uni High during the With Illinois Campaign.

Uni High Kick off of a Year of Celebrations

We gathered more than 250 alumni and friends virtually and around 40 local alumni, students, parents and faculty at the school to sing the Uni High fight song, hear from our new school Director, Dr. Elizabeth Majerus and sing Happy 100th Birthday to Uni High. Truly special places inspire new ideas. But most of them only exist for a brief moment. The best ones last for Centuries. View the event: Century Celebration Kick-off

Uni has a display at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center commemorating 100 years of the University of Illinois Laboratory High School.

Thanks to a strong tradition of giving from our generous community, Uni High was prepared to pivot seamlessly into online learning.

2017 Rising Star Recipient
Jeremy Hobson (’99) was the inaugural recipient of the 2017 University of Illinois Laboratory High School Rising Star Award. Hobson co-hosted NPR’s “Here and Now.” Before joining Here & Now, he hosted the Marketplace Morning Report. He also was a reporter for Marketplace based in Washington, D.C., and later New York City, where he covered Wall Street and its impact on ordinary Americans during the financial crisis of 2008. Today, Hobson is developing a new show for public radio called The Middle; a live call-in show aiming to elevate the voices of Americans who live between the coasts. Hobson’s radio career began at the age of 9 when he started contributing to a program called Treehouse Radio. He is a graduate of Boston University and the University of Illinois Laboratory High School.

2018 Rising Star Recipient
Helen Estabrook (’99) was the recipient of the 2018 University of Illinois Laboratory High School Rising Star Award. Estabrook is an Academy Award-nominated film and television producer. In 2014, Estabrook spearheaded Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash. Whiplash won many awards, starting with the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance and culminating in three Academy Awards (with five nominations, including Best Picture.) Estabrook is also executive producer on the Golden Globe-nominated series Casual, and has a television deal with Hulu under her banner, A Thousand Ships. Upon graduating from Uni High in 1999, Helen attended Harvard.

2019 Rising Star Recipient
Scott Solomon (’96) was the recipient of the 2019 University of Illinois Laboratory High School Rising Star Award.In addition to publishing his first book in 2016 (Future Humans: Inside the Science of Our Continuing Evolution), he teaches Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Scientific Communication at Rice University. Solomon also teaches field biology at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, and he developed a complete digital course on the modern science of evolution with The Great Courses. His writing and photography have appeared in publications such as NBC News, Slate, Aeon, Nautilus, and Wired. Solomon graduated with the Uni High Class of 1996. He completed a B.S. at the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior from the University of Texas at Austin.

2020 Rising Star Recipient
The 2020 Rising Star Award recipient is Melinda Taub (’01). The award recognizes outstanding young Uni High alumni who have demonstrated leadership in their fields and service to the school and to the community. Due to the worldwide pandemic, Taub accepted the award while speaking via video at Uni’s first-ever virtual graduation. Taub is a writer and producer, known for her work on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Bad Internet, and UCB Comedy Originals.

2021 Rising Star Recipient
Uni High recognizes Phillip Maurice Lewis Owens Nesbitt Rowell II for his critical role in healthcare involving digital health transformation and his responsibilities of coordinating COVID-19 data for Carle Foundation Hospital.

2022 Rising Star Recipient
Uni High recognizes Dr. Daniel Grossman for his work addressing the intersection of health care and business by looking at the reinvention of health care delivery. The Uni High family looks forward to Grossman’s continued achievements in his bright future.

2021 Max Beberman Award Recipient
David Frankel is the thirty-fifth Max Beberman Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, and a member of the University of Illinois Laboratory High School class of 1976. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering.

Continue Your Support

Your continued support ensures Uni High remains a place where progress and innovation can flourish. Find your passion and help us dream even bigger!

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See More Impact

Philanthropy has benefited students, faculty, and staff in many ways. Browse the list below to learn more about how the With Illinois Campaign’s impact can be felt across campus.