CHICAGO (CBS) – The New Year will bring a unique new high school to Chicago.

WBBM’s Regine Schlesinger reports, when it opens next fall, Wolcott School – located at 524 N. Wolcott Av., just northwest of the Loop – will be the first Chicago high school specifically for college-bound students with learning differences.

The head of the school is former Deerfield High School special education chair Miriam Pike, who doesn’t use the old term of learning disabilities.

“We aren’t viewing students in terms of a disability, or an incapacity. We’re looking at our students through their strengths,” she said.

She said the school is now accepting applications for its inaugural freshman and sophomore classes this fall, looking for students who have struggled in mainstream schools.

“Students who are bright and can think and have many, many strengths in many areas of their functioning; and are challenged in some particular areas,” she said.

The tuition at Wolcott School, a private institution, will be a hefty $37,500-a-year, but Pike said the school is launching a scholarship fundraising drive to enable it to draw students from across all economic backgrounds.