Maine East High School

"My time at Maine East was probably the highlight of my relatively short 19-year life, as of yet. The school offers AP courses taught by dedicated and experienced faculty. In addition, the school offers a wide variety of electives, extracurricular, and opportunities for advancement and service. During my time at Maine East, I participated in activities such as: tennis, robotics club, mathematics, a Google incubator project, the WGN Toy Drive, Maine Community Youth Assistance Foundation (my research was on the rise in vape shops lead to a conversation with a Senator), community service, and much more. I have friends that gained valuable certifications in everything from information technology to first aid through programs offered at this school. Some of my friends participated in the Virtual Enterprise International class/company and won various competitions for their marketing of a VR company. Now, some of my friends are starting their own businesses ranging from baking to stock tip subscription services. Many of the technical, vocational, and business classes are taught by industry professionals. When I graduated, one of my teachers offered me a job at his company as a computer educator for children. Sure, our standardized test scores may not be as high as some of the schools that surround us, but this is mainly due to the large population of Maine East students who do not speak English as a first language, including those who are considered Caucasian on a demographic consensus but hail from places like Croatia, Bosnia, and other areas. What prospective students and families should pay attention to is the improvement in test scores from the PARCC exam which showed that Maine East far surpassed other schools in improvement. I have had classmates who came to this country without knowing how to speak English in grade school and ended up taking AP English courses by senior year, a true testament to the effort of the local educational system. I am sorry to hear that anyone had a bad experience at Maine East, but the consensus, among myself and my peers, was that the staff was dedicated to providing the best education possible (often working far more than 40 hours a week), and that the administration was committed to providing the best opportunities for its students (establishing a Career Pathways office, hiring industry professionals to teach career-oriented classes, inviting guest speakers, and encouraging student projects/innovation). Even the Governor recognized the quality of Maine East and visited it as his first stop for getting ideas on how to improve the Illinois education. I am in college right now, and I feel that Maine East has prepared me well (if not over-prepared me) not only for the academic rigors but for daily challenges as well. The merit of Maine East is not in its standardized test scores (although our AP track record is impressive and one of my close friends earned a perfect AP US history exam score); rather, Maine East develops character, a growth mindset, and direction for its students. Maine East and District 207 are always on the cutting edge. They are one of the first districts to switch to a student-Chromebook system to increase collaboration. Now, they prioritizing getting all students to have a job or internship experience before graduation because they realize the dangers of focusing on college preparation without providing students with opportunities to find their direction whether that may require college, or not. Yet, despite all of these changes, Maine East and District 207 is committed to maintaining its tradition of high standards dating back to the early 1900's. In short, I do not think I could have had a better high school experience and would also have prepared me for life after, as well as Maine East did. My advice to prospective families and students would be to pay Maine East a visit. Explore what they have to offer and see the level engagement of students with your own eyes."

"This is an incredible school! School is what you put into it and Maine East makes sure that you get every opportunity to learn! They give you everything at your finger tips and the support is amazing! I have worked in schools for over 15 years and Maine East's environment is incredible! Every school has good and bad in them, even the $30,000 a year + schools but Maine East's GOOD by far out ways any bad. I love our staff and I love our students! A proud parent of almost three graduates, as my baby is a junior!"

"This school is the best high school! My daughter loved this school! she learned a lot! There are many good people there to help her with any studies"

"This high school offers ESL programs for adults during the evening for free."

"Yeah I went here for two years of high school and honestly cps schools are better, but one thing about this school is some teachers like mr z mr Wunderlich Ms colon ms kuta mr miller and a few more actually do care, but others just don't, they will give minimum effort to teach they just throw a projector on and think ur learning. No ur just talking. A good point is that its you get to see and learn a lot of cultures, there's not a majority of any nationality of people, I'd say its pretty interracial, for lack of a better word."