The hallmark of the Wentworth Scholars Program is its adaptability to student needs. As such, the program has grown and changed to meet the needs of each incoming class. 

Created in 2016, the Wentworth Scholars Program nurtures success for first- and second-year students by building collaborative partnerships with student support services. This wraparound support includes connections with tutoring and mentoring, leadership development, personal and academic development opportunities, and much more.

In 2017, the program began pairing each Wentworth Scholar with an Academic Success Coach to enhance student success by fostering a sense of belonging, encouraging student engagement, developing academic and life skills, and exploring career paths.

In 2018, students said they needed focus spaces for getting work done. The program responded by opening the Wentworth Lab, a productive space to get work done individually and/or collaboratively. Housed on the fourth floor of the Library, the space has convenient access to tutors as well as the space and technological tools necessary to tackle any type of work. Students have used this space to conquer group assignments, knock out math homework, pursue scholarships, and dive into all sorts of other work that requires intentional focus.

2019 has seen two major changes to the Wentworth Scholars Program. First, Wentworth Academic Success Coaches now advise students. This simplifies the advising process because it creates a central point of contact for each student in the program. Second, all Wentworth Scholars are enrolled in a credit-bearing seminar class in which they master foundational academic strategies to foster their success. These two improvements to the program significantly enhance the wraparound services provided by the program, making the first-year experience better.

The Wentworth Scholars Program is named after Daniel S. Wentworth, the first principal of the Cook County Normal School, which was founded in 1867 and later became Northeastern Illinois University.