Niles West Spectrum High School Yearbooks, 1962-1989
This collection includes the digitized Spectrum yearbooks of Niles West High School, or Niles West, a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois. The school is part of Niles Township Community High School District 219, which also includes Niles North High School.
Fun Facts
- In 2007, Niles West had an average composite ACT score of 22.3, and graduated 93.2% of its senior class.
- The student newspaper, West Word, has been awarded first place for seven years, with special merit twice, by the American Scholastic Press Association Newspaper contest.
- The sports teams were renamed the Wolves at the end of the 1999–2000 school year.
Merrick Garland, graduate of Niles West High School in 1970, was sworn in as the 86thAttorney General of the United States on March 11, 2021.
Other Notable Alumni
- Jewell Loyd, class of 2012, point guard/shooting guard for the Seattle Storm, in 2021 earned an Olympic gold medal with the U.S. women's national basketball team and was the first Niles West athlete to earn the honor of having her jersey number (32) retired. In July 2023, Loyd set a WNBA All-Star Game record with 31 points.
- Rashard Mendenhall, class of 2005, was a Niles West running back, who later played for the University of Illinois and was inducted into the Illini Hall of Fame in May 2023. He played six seasons in the NFL, first for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2008-2012, and later for the Arizona Cardinals in 2013. His Niles West jersey number (5) was retired in September 2023. He now has his own production company, Nappy Rose Productions.
- George Papadopoulos, class of 2005, writer and former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Related historical information can be found in the Skokie Newspaper Index.