On July 21, 2010, 30 math and science high-school teachers from four midwestern states toured EVL as part of a two-week intensive University of Illinois Summer Training Institute (STI), a continuing education program offered by the Illinois Project Lead The Way initiative. The University of Illinois became a PLTW National Affiliate University in 2005, offering STI sessions on its Chicago and Urbana-Champaign campuses, sponsoring statewide PLTW conference and professional development activities, coordinating program implementation and recordkeeping, and maintaining the statewide Illinois PLTW program website.

PLTW is the largest nonprofit provider of innovative and rigorous Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education programs -- for students, parents, volunteers, school principals, and educators. PLTW encourages the development of problem-solving skills, critical thinking, creative and innovative reasoning, and a love of learning, with the ultimate goal of helping our next generation of leaders develop the critical-reasoning and problem-solving skills needed to help America to remain economically competitive.