Evergreen Middle School Wins Top Award for Sixth Time in a Row

The McKinley Park neighborhood's Evergreen Academy Middle School is once again a National Forum School to Watch, designating a level of excellence in academics, student achievement and social equity in a nationwide program that focuses on young adolescents in middle grades.

Illinois Horizon Schools to Watch administrators wrote they were "very impressed with the degree to which your school as fulfilled the criteria of the program."

"They said we rocked it," said Evergreen Principal Marian Strok. "We've done a great job for our middle school students."

Sixth in a Row

The 2026 award is the sixth designation in a row of Evergreen as one of the Schools to Watch, starting with the first in 2010.

"The program focuses on school improvement ... characterized by a continuous trajectory toward success," the National Forum states on its website.

STEAM Demonstration School

Five representatives from Evergreen will join other winners this spring on a trip to Washington, D.C., to accept the award, Strok said.

She noted the constant development occurring at the school, which includes Evergreen's promotion within Chicago Public Schools to a STEAM demonstration school: a designated leader that demonstrates how to run great science, technology, engineering, arts and math programs within Chicago Public Schools.

First Choice in High Schools

Forty percent of Evergreen's graduating 8th graders go to their top choice in high schools, Strok said.

"Come and see us," she said. "You'll be surprised at what you'll find at that building."