Recently, Zak, a 7th-grader from High Jump’s 36th Cohort, sat down with Eleanor Nicholson, Co-Founder of High Jump to talk about High Jump. High Jump is a two-year tuition-free academic enrichment program for kids who are curious and want to learn. The program helps prepare students academically, gives them a sense of community, and gets…
High Jump is many things for the over 500 middle schoolers we serve from across Chicago. It’s two years of 100% tuition-free, high-dosage academic and social learning that helps them find their passions and purpose. It’s a safe space where students can make new friends and have one-of-a-kind experiences. And it’s a chance for them…
On October 28, 2024, High Jump will welcome Shaz Rasul as Chief Programs Officer. Leading strategy and day-to-day operation of all programs at High Jump, Shaz will oversee our campus-based Scholars program, neighborhood-based Community Scholars program, and Alumni Scholars program extension. Shaz will also supervise program recruitment with an eye toward growth and equity in…
We’re delighted to welcome guest writer Vivi Corre. Vivi’s study of psychology and education, passion for educational equity, and love for working with youth inform her writing. Vivi learned about High Jump as a volunteer tutor while attending the University of Chicago Laboratory High School during her 2017-18 academic year. She recently graduated from Mount Holyoke…
After 35 years of growing High Jump’s Scholars Program from our first cohort of 16 students to our most recent cohort of 225 students, we are so proud and excited to announce the next step of our continued growth: the formal adoption of our Community Scholars pilot as High Jump’s second ever official program! Community…
High Jump’s annual Moving Up Ceremony is the culminating event to honor students’ two years of hard work. Each graduating High Jump student gets to walk across the stage and receive their certificate—a physical reminder of all the work they’ve put in over the past two years and of all that they’ll carry with them…
Every year in May, High Jump holds space for a celebration two years in the making: our student’s annual Moving Up Ceremony. Held at the University of Chicago Lab Schools’ Gordon Parks Arts Hall, the ceremony serves as the culminating event to honor the hard work of each and every graduating High Jump student. Throughout…
While CeCe may not have known exactly what future growth awaited her when she got to High Jump, her mother Ciana already had seen first hand what the program could do for students from when she was a teaching assistant back in the early 2000s. CeCe came to High Jump as a “quiet person” who…
Over the past three decades High Jump has provided over 3,000 academically ambitious middle schoolers of limited economic means with the right resources at the right time, empowering them to thrive in high school, college, and beyond. As the first step of carving out that path to the future, High Jump helps 8th grade scholars…
One of the pillars of High Jump is ensuring that our Scholars are not just prepared to thrive while they are in the program during middle school, but that they will continue to thrive during high school, college, and beyond. We are committed to supporting our scholars through every waypoint along their educational journeys, and…
As we prepare to welcome High Jump’s 35th cohort in just under a week, we wanted to share with you why we believe that the High Jump model works so well. The experiences of our current students and the lives our alumni are now leading speak for themselves in terms of the success of the…
After hearing from two students and a teaching assistant currently in High Jump, we want to share with you once again the real and powerful impact of the program as told from the perspective of students who went through it. But this time, we wanted you to hear from two of our alumni who graduated…
For over 30 years, High Jump has changed the lives of more than 2,500 middle school students in Chicago. While our first cohort in 1989 had just 16 students enrolled, High Jump has grown over the years and now serves more than 285 new students each year through our programs. After three decades of honing…
More than 3,400 high-achieving, low-income students in Chicago enter sixth grade each year. These students have limited means to invest in their education, with long-term implications; middle school performance is highly predictive of a student’s future high school achievement. And research from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute shows that the middle school years are critical…
Moving Up is the culmination of two years of hard work for students ready to embark on their high school journey. Cohort 31 began the program in 2019, the summer following their 6th-grade year. After putting in the 700 hours of challenging but rewarding work, 157 students graduated from the program this year. Held at…
By the spring of 2020, we knew that our summer program would have to be quite different than in years past. Thankfully, the changes we made for summer were strategic, research-informed, and ultimately successful. With the threat of COVID-19 greater than ever, we used the same structure for our fall programming. Here’s how we adapted…
This summer has presented many new challenges that make continuous inquiry and analysis crucial to improving virtual programming for High Jump students. Incorporating weekly surveys from students, families, teachers, and teaching assistants has provided reflections and feedback that reinforce what’s working and reveal areas of improvement. As we look to the Fall and beyond, surveys,…
For World Teachers’ Day we want to highlight Ms. Lehman, one of the many stellar teachers at High Jump! She has been teaching our Exam Prep and High School Choice classes for three years and helping students get into their best-fit high schools. Read about her insights and experience as a teacher: Why did you…