Northwestern History

Northwestern High School was established for the 1950-1951 school year and served as a replacement for Hyattsville High School, which was converted into one of Northwestern feeder middle schools: Hyattsville Middle School. Northwestern is located in the north-west part of Prince George’s County (hence the name) and is situated about eight miles north-east of our nation’s capital. Northwestern High School was renovated in the year 2000 after nearly fifty years of use.

Northwestern is a public comprehensive high school, however, it is also home of the Jim Henson Center for the Visual and Performing Arts Academy, a magnet program named for the late creator of The Muppets and Northwestern Alum. In addition Northwestern is located less than a mile from the University of Maryland, College Park. This close proximity makes Northwestern a home to many joint programs with the university and a training ground for many of the university students studying education there.

Northwestern is currently home to approximately 2200 students and 124 full time teachers, though projections show that the enrollment is set to increase in the coming years. In addition, the community that Northwestern serves is seeing a large influx of immigrants from Latin America and as a result, the student population is trending toward more English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).  Northwestern is home to a large Free and Reduced Meals (FARMs) population, which is indicative of the high poverty area that the school serves.