Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi will deliver the commencement address for Northwestern University’s Prison Education Program on Oct. 16. The ceremony will mark the first time incarcerated women in the United States receive bachelor’s degrees from a top 10 university.
Rush University graduate student Madison Moore was rushed to the emergency room during spring break 2025 after being diagnosed with a hemorrhaging liver tumor, but was able to continue her studies in Speech Language Pathology with the support of faculty and the university’s Office of Student Accessibility Services. Her story highlights a dramatic expansion of student support resources at Rush, which has grown from 37 active accessibility cases in 2016 to 417 today.
John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights has been named a 2026-2028 RULER Spotlight School by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, recognizing the school’s commitment to embedding social-emotional learning into daily instruction. The honor places Hersey among a select national cohort recognized by the Yale center.
Northwestern University scientists have developed water-activated nanoparticles from synthetic allomelanin that, when mixed into clothing dyes, can neutralize toxic organophosphorus chemicals found in nerve agents and pesticides within minutes.
Roosevelt University will present Melanie Jefferies, COO of Milhouse Engineering and Construction, with its 2026 Rising Star Award at the Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate’s 25th Anniversary Gala on Oct. 22. The honor recognizes emerging leaders in Chicago’s real estate and higher education sectors.
Rich Township High School District 227’s STEM Campus received an Honorable Mention in the Illinois Association of School Boards’ 2026 Exhibition of Educational Environments, placing it among nine projects recognized statewide from 22 submissions. The campus, designed by STR Partners, features a new engineering and robotics wing and renovated science facilities.
Student leaders from the Oak Forest High School Interact Club in Bremen High School District 228 volunteered in May to help preserve the Chicago home of Paul Harris, who founded Rotary International in the city in 1905. The project reflects the district’s emphasis on student leadership and community service.
Rich Township High School District 227 is spotlighting STEM Campus graduates Aaliyah Benitez and Dainelle Ellington, who enrolled at Southern Illinois University Carbondale on Chancellor’s Scholarships, as the south-suburban district expands its college pipeline partnerships. District 227 was also recently selected to join the University of Illinois’ Dual Credit @ Illinois program.
Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of the New York Times’s 1619 Project, has published an essay revealing she deliberately enrolled her daughter in a failing inner-city school as an ideological statement, only to be confronted by her daughter with the question of whether she knew the school was bad. Former Waukegan teacher Frank McCormick says the episode exposes a moral failure at the heart of progressive education ideology and makes the strongest possible case for school choice.
Rich Township High School District 227 celebrated alumni who enrolled at Southern Illinois University Carbondale this fall, continuing the district’s ‘Raptors to Salukis’ college pipeline for students in Chicago’s south suburbs.