Opening weekend is April 28–29, with visual art, student cabaret, jazz brunch, MS Musical, and much more! Don't miss this annual all-ages favorite, an all school celebration of the arts at Lab.

See the full schedule of events and activities here.

Join Chicago's most fashionable families at the Kids' Fashion Show and Tea to benefit the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital. The event includes the Four Seasons' signature tea service, a champagne reception for the adults, a lunch for the models, and a dessert buffet for everyone.

Boys and girls ages 6–15 are invited to walk the runway. You can also sponsor a Comer Children's patient's participation in the program. Click here to purchase tickets.

We are looking for high school volunteers to assist the child models get ready for the runway from 12:30-4:30 p.m. at the Four Seasons. Please email Lexi Fielder if interested.

Click here to learn more.

Our annual data meeting is back! Director Charlie Abelmann and other members of Lab's leadership team will give a presentation highlighting the latest school data on student and teacher racial and ethnic diversity; learning abilities and financial aid. For questions, contact Amanda Lewis.

Free childcare is available. RSVP here.

Please submit your vote electronically by clicking here.

To learn more about the candidates, please read their personal statements, which are available online. If you have any questions, please direct them to PA secretary-elect, Archana Dharanipragada.

This massive, all-schools event celebrates the year at Lab, with food, carnival games, community service activities, cultural and creativity booths, student performances and more. Every member of the Lab community is encouraged to enjoy the day and come together as one.

• Rites of May, Saturday, May 19,
  
• 11:30 a.m.–4 p.m, Kenwood Mall and Kovler Gyms
  

Volunteer! We need hundreds of volunteers to make the day successful. Please give an hour or two of your time. Middle and High School students can also help. Sign up for a slot here.

We are looking for parents, student clubs, and performers to fill out our exhibition space. If you are interested in having booth to represent a cultural tradition, community service campaign, or makerspace activity, or would like to perform, please contact Tracey Quinn or Chitra Nair.

Buying tickets or t-shirts for the event? For the best deal, buy them in advance.

The votes are in and we have a winner! Thank you to our fifth graders for their entries and to the students from across the schools that voted. Congratulations to Sygne Stole for the winning design! Order your Rites of May t-shirt and entry pass here.

Keeping Lab's mission in full swing during the summer builds community and your students' social and academic development. From June 18 to July 27, activities and engagement abound for students, campers, singers, actors, cooks, cyclists, scientists, robot-builders, programmers, and you-name-it. Join the Summer Lab community. Bring friends and neighbors from other schools and other countries, too, because Summer Lab, as always, is open to everybody.

Prom Com 2019 is raising money for the Class of 2019 prom by selling Lab Mom, Lab Dad, and just plain Lab shirts in adult and youth sizes. If you are interested, see pictures and place your order here. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Stephanie Miller or Alyssa Hannah.

Save the date to celebrate the opening of Lab's new Middle and High School Makerspaces and see other current student projects.

The Parents' Association is recruiting mentor families to help welcome and orient new families to Lab. Your help in building community is greatly appreciated—whether you are a veteran parent of seven months or ten years. If you are available to meet with a new family either over the summer or in the first month of school, please sign up here.

U-High and UChicago Woodlawn Charter School students had a chance to experience a slice of the University of Chicago Law School and explored issues that affect young people. "The high school students were engaged in a way that allowed for discussions that went pretty deep pretty quickly, and both I and the law school students learned from them," said Emily Buss, the Mark and Barbara Fried Professor of Law. Read the whole story here.

For best text, the award goes to A Greyhound a Groundhog, written by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Chris Appelhans.

For best illustration, the award goes to Town is by the sea, written by Joanne Schwartz, illustrated by Sydney Smith.

For best overall picture book, the award goes to The world is not a rectangle, written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter.

UChicago Magazine is celebrating National Poetry Month and today's featured poet is Langston Hughes, guest teacher and poet-in-residence at Lab in 1949. Three Months at the Laboratory School, which you can read here, is Hughes' own account of his time at Lab.

To extend the success of Connections fundraising efforts, which will support a revitalized Jackman Fields and financial aid, you are invited to buy tickets to attend one of these special Lab-only opportunities. See who's coming.

• Salon Lab
  

These intimate dinners feature Lab or University people who are nationally- and internationally-recognized experts in their field. You will join a small group to share an engaging evening of thoughtful discussion and intellectual curiosity. This year's evenings include:Reforming Our Judicial System - April 12

• Expeditions & Evolution - May 15
• Changing the World Through Art Making - October 16

Read more about Salon Lab and get tickets.

• Sign-up Parties
  

This is a diverse set of inclusively priced events—fun, unique opportunities for Lab community members to gather. Some Sign-up Parties are adults-only, others target specific ages:

• Laughter is the best medicine at Second City
• Saturday soccer for kids 3–7 (coffee and breakfast for the parents!)
• Murder at the Opera
• Bowling at Lucky Strike

See all of the party options and buy tickets.

Labapalooza is a completely student-run dance marathon fundraiser for the organization, My Block My Hood My City (M3). Part Rites of May, part dance party, and part fundraiser, the goal is to bridge together students of all ages at Lab while raising over $10,000 for an incredible cause.

The event will feature activities for kids of all ages, dance routines performed by U-High's clubs and sports teams, silent auctions, lots of food, incredible raffle prizes and more!

Everybody in the Lab community is invited to join—all grade N–12 students, faculty, and parents.

Dance for a chance to win prizes:

• N–2: Dance until 5 p.m. and your child will be entered into a raffle to win a ten-jump pass to Pump It Up.
  
• LS: Dance until 6 p.m. and your child will be entered into a raffle to win entrance to Sky High for them and a friend.
  
• MS: Dance until 8 p.m. and your child will be entered into a raffle to win tickets to Six Flags for them and their friends.
  
• HS: Dance for all six hours and be entered into a raffle to win a four day pass to Lollapalooza.

Registration opens Monday, April 2 at 7 p.m. for those who want to participate in the dance marathon. The first 100 people to sign up will receive a Labapalooza water bottle when they arrive to check-in at the dance.

We are looking for donations for our Silent Auction. Whether you can donate a gift card to a local business, a platter of baked goods or a shadowing opportunity ("Day with Dr. ___"), any and all donations would be greatly appreciated!

Email the main student organizers, Megan Moran and Florence Almeda with your questions or comments.