Lavie Raven

Lavie Raven is a social studies/language arts teacher at Oak Park River Forest High School and the Minister of Education for the University of Hip‐Hop. He is a practitioner of graffiti writing and illuminated script, a rapper, and a part‐time b‐boy. Raven provides youth with a multi‐disciplinary approach towards life that holistically engages their academic skills, celebrates their talents and artistic abilities, and empowers his students’ desires to bring positive change to society. He received a Fulbright US Distinguished Award in Teaching to study the integration of Māori folkloric arts and the hip-hop arts for the purposes of cultural survival and celebration.

Lavie’s murals can be found all around Chicago—the Edgewater Viaduct, the Stockyard Institute, the Shedd Aquarium, and all around Chicago’s Southside. One glimpse of his classroom and you immediately know he is one of those teachers whose students will forever be influenced by Lavie and they will never forget him!