A coeducational day school serving students JK-12

Community Engagement

Uptown field trip

We want every day at Latin to include meaningful connections to the outside world through which students learn, enhance their empathy and develop a foundation for future civic leadership.

Our mission statement directs students to “lead lives of purpose and excellence.” Our students learn that it is not enough to be good, they must also do good – at school, in their neighborhoods, throughout the city and around the world.
 

Students in every division, faculty, staff and parents work with more than 30 organizations throughout the city on a variety of initiatives. This work represents the type of interdisciplinary, experiential and entrepreneurial learning that we strive to incorporate in all areas of our curriculum. In addition to helping people, students are solving problems, making connections and becoming active citizens in our school and city. Most importantly, our engagement has influenced our school culture and has become an important part of who we are as a community.


Our Community Partners include:

A Just Harvest

Alderman Cappleman's Office

Alternatives

Asian Youth Services

Bethel New Life

Big Shoulders

Buttercup Park and Playlot

Chicago Cares

Chicago Lights Tutoring

CircEsteem

City Farm

Common Threads

Cornerstone Community Shelter

Eden Supportive Living

First Sip Cafe

Found

Friends of the Parks

Girls on the Run

High Jump

Hope for Chicago

Horizons for Youth

Inspiration Corporation

JUF TOV Teen

Programming and Uptown Cafe

The Kenwood of Lakeview

Kilbourne Park Organic Greenhouse and Community Garden

Lakeview Pantry

La Rabida Children's Hospital

Lincoln Park Community Shelter

McCutcheon Community School Tutoring

The Night Ministry

Obama 2012 Election Campaign

Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

Republican Victory Center

Robert R. McCormick Boys and Girls Club

Ronald McDonald House

St. Chrysostom's "Neighbors in Need" Program

Sunrise Senior Living

Temple Sholom "Monday Meal Mitzvah"

Two Li'l Fishes

UCAN

Urban Initiatives

Weiss Memorial Hospital

The partnerships we foster with organizations in this city enrich the lives of our students, faculty, parents and alumni.

- Director of the Uptown Partnership
first sip cafe Facebook post about Latin's peace umbrellas

service icon

8,000+

hours of service
performed by
upper school students

 

Latin's building in Uptown

Our Partnership with Uptown

Authentic community engagement is an essential part of Latin. From Latin’s foundational support of the High Jump program, to the 23-year partnership with the McCutcheon School, to our annual Martin Luther King, Jr. day presence at the Uptown Baptist Soup Kitchen, relationships with these organizations have provided students with meaningful learning opportunities for years.

The Uptown Partnership was established in 2012 in an effort to build more mutually beneficial relationships. Uptown is one of the most diverse communities in Chicago in terms of culture, race, age, citizenship, artistic heritage and economic status. The partnership provides opportunities for teachers, students and parents in all divisions to move beyond community service and closer to a model of true community engagement. In the past five years, collaborations have ranged from book shares and poetry slams, to designing clay tiles and learning to dance.

CURRICULAR ENGAGEMENTS WITH UPTOWN

  • Upper school dance mentoring project class

  • Third grade neighborhood study of Uptown and architecture art project with Courtenay School

  • Middle school hack-a-thon

  • Tenth grade community engagement class

  • Senn High School/Latin visual storytelling Project Week

  • Design Thinking in Uptown Project Week


Latin is proud to be a founding member of the National Network of Schools in Partnership (NNSP)--an organization focused on facilitating partnerships between private and public schools.

- RANDALL DUNN, HEAD OF SCHOOL

By working with local civic leaders including the 46th Ward alderman and cultural and community organizations, Latin strives to have a meaningful impact on this neighborhood while providing students in all three divisions of the school with in-depth service learning experiences.