News & Events

Lawrence Hall students are ready for the new school year, thanks to the generous donations, school supplies, and volunteer support from Macy*s, NBC5 Chicago, William Blair & Co., Prudential Financial, Garvey’s Office Products, the North Shore Auxiliary and countless individuals.

Having the right tools can make all the difference!
By donating to the Macy*s Back-To-School Supply Drive benefitting Lawrence Hall’s Therapeutic Day School you can help a student start off the school year ready to succeed.

Donations may be dropped off at LHYS’ offices located at:
4833 N. Francisco Ave.
2737 W. Peterson Ave. &
65 E. Wacker Place, Suite 1300
Or, if you would like to collect supplies at your business or organization,
please contact:
Kiel Galland
Office: (312) 456-6527
Email: kgalland@lawrencehall.org

Suggested Donations:
backpacks
solar powered alarm clocks
ballpoint pens
#2 pencils
pencil sharpeners
spiral notebooks
folders
filler paper
crayons
colored pencils
erasers
supply cases/boxes
protractors
rulers
flash drives
weekly planners

Lawrence Hall’s Therapeutic Day School has become a model for “reaching and teaching” some of the most challenging student populations in any school district. We believe that if you create a safe environment, give students outstanding teachers, creative programming and supportive services, as well as new opportunities that you can take kids who have been labeled failures and create success. Our school combines academic and vocational programming that is augmented by social and rehabilitative services including individual and group counseling, music and art therapy, and therapeutic recreation to reach and teach students with diagnosed behavioral disorders, emotional disturbances, and learning challenges that require special education services.

We Reach & Teach: 80-120 at-risk students in 8th – 12th grades each year with an 85% attendance rate. In August 2010, 15 students will receive their high school diplomas.

Special Features of our Reach & Teach Approach are:

• Individualized pro-social instruction and literacy skills focus;


• Classroom Community Model;


• Balanced and Restorative Justice Program;


• Service learning, vocational training and job readiness; and


• Visual arts and music therapy as well as therapeutic recreation.

An award from Kohl’s Cares will provide the critical resources necessary for our students to: close their academic achievement gap while becoming good citizens and workplace ready; so they may mature into self-sufficient and productive adults.

Our school is accredited by the North Central Association and Council on Accreditation and licensed by the IL State Board of Education. Our licensing and regulatory agencies include: Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Illinois State Board of Education. The Chicago Public Schools system places its most behaviorally challenged and learning disabled students at our school for a high quality and appropriate education.

Congratulations to Renesha F., one of our students, who was selected as one of the winners in the 2010 Chicago Teachers Union Young Chicago Artists Contest. Her artwork, entitled “Summer Sunset”, will be exhibited in the CTU office for one year and she will also receive a $100 savings bond.

Lawrence Hall Youth Services has been awarded the 2009 Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Award from United Way of Metropolitan Chicago for its outstanding performance in CQI. This is the second year the agency has received this award since 2005. Lawrence Halls CQI model is an agency-wide team-based quality improvement model to continuously monitor, evaluate, and improve our programs to ensure that we are providing services of the highest quality to our clients.

The agency will be honored at the United Way’s annual Community Celebration on Friday, May 14th at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

Art teacher Janice Gould and 5 young students from the Day School art program participated in a mosaic tile project with NBC 5 and GE employees. The project was part of a weeklong DIVERSITY celebration at NBC. The completed mosaic tile will hang in the employee cafeteria at the NBC 5 tower. There will be a brief spot during NBC5 local news at 4:30, 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. today, March 19, 2009.

Lawrence Hall Youth Services CEO Mary Hollie and Board Chairman Andy Oleszczuk hosted U.S. Senator Roland Burris during his recent visit to the north side campus. During his visit, Senator Burris toured the residential treatment center, Try-me’s vocational program, and the Therapeutic Day School where he met and talked with many of the young people, staff, and teachers.

To see photos of the visit, please visit our album on Facebook.

CHICAGO – January 14, 2010 – Lawrence Hall Youth Services student, Lookman Muhammed was recognized for his winning design in the annual Chicago City Vehicle Sticker contest at City Hall. City Clerk Miguel del Valle presented him with a certificate of honor and a $1,000 U.S. savings bond. Lookman will also get the opportunity to see his artwork on 1.3 million cars throughout Chicago.

All of this year’s 300 entries, received from 39 Chicago-area high schools were inspired by Daniel Burnham’s architecture and vision. The top ten finalists received a combined 17,500 votes during the week of public voting and Lookman’s design was the overall winner!

This was Lookman’s second entry into the contest. In 2009 he was a finalist and received an honorable mention. This year was a lesson in perseverance. “I’m glad my art teacher Ms. Gould encouraged me to try again.” said Lookman. “I didn’t think that I was going to win this year, I didn’t expect to, especially because we are such a small school, but I did.”

Lawrence Hall partnered with The Chicago Human Rhythm Project for their annual revenue sharing program, Thanks4Giving. Nearly 100 Lawrence Hall supporters attended one of the shows and helped to raise $1,500.

Participants in Lawrence Hall Youth Services’ Balanced and Restorative Justice Program (BARJ), were invited to visit the Illinois Attorney General’s Office on August 5th. This trip was in collaboration with the Illinois Youth Court Association, which is sponsored by the Illinois Attorney General. Youth and staff toured the policy division office, met with several Assistant Attorney Generals and learned how the office benefits the citizens of Illinois. This was a great experience for those who have never been to the Thompson Center.

Our youth also had the opportunity to make their own presentation to the staff of the Attorney General’s office concerning their experience in the BARJ program at Lawrence Hall. They described to their audience how the Peer Conference program and the Youth Advisory Committee benefit them by giving them “a voice” at Lawrence Hall.

Lawrence Hall would like to thank the Illinois Attorney General’s office for welcoming us and providing our youth with such an informative experience!

Congratulations to Jesse S. and Adam R., on their successful participation at the Mother’s Day Chicago Area track meet. Jesse had a strong third place finish in the 200 meter dash and Adam took first place, setting personal records, in the 1600 meter, 800 meter and 400 meter runs. Both youth received ribbons for their efforts. They were outstanding representatives for Lawrence Hall and demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and community behavior throughout the day. Both boys attend public high schools where track and field are not part of the athletic curriculum. Thanks to our Therapeutic Recreation Program, Jesse and Adam trained weekly on LHYS’ campus and were able to compete in their first competition.