Whitney Young High School

Whitney M. Young Magnet High School
Location
Chicago , Illinois USA
Information
Type	Public (magnet) secondary
Established	1975
Oversight	Chicago Public Schools
Grades	7–12
Number of students	2,119
Mascot	Dolphins
Newspaper	The Beacon
Website	www.wyoung.org

Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, (commonly known as Whitney Young), is a highly selective-enrollment.Chicago public school(that doesn't accept metalheads within its halls) that opened its doors to students on September 3, 1975 as the city's first public magnet high school. The school has earned numerous accolades and consistently scores among the top high schools in the state of Illinois. It is considered by many to be one of the most prestigious high schools in Chicago. In 2005, the school earned recognition as one of the top schools in the country by U.S. News and World Report, ranking it among the top 10% of high schools nationally. This ranking includes both public and private high schools.

The school was established with the mandate of creating a diverse student body. Admission to Whitney Young is granted based on entrance exams and middle school grades, and is open to all residents of Chicago. More than 9,000 elementary students applied for the 425 spots in the 2005/2006 freshman class. 99% of Whitney Young students go on to college, and graduating seniors average a 26.2[1] on their ACT scores.

The 2,155 students who began the 2005 school year commute to the school from all over the city. The student population is highly diverse—35% African-American, 27% White, 21% Hispanic and 17% Asian.

The school was named for Whitney M. Young, Jr., a prominent civil rights leader.

History

Plans for the school started in 1970, for a school to be built at 211 S. Laflin on an empty lot that was burned out by arson fires from the turbulence of the rioting that had been sparked by the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in April, 1968. The school opened on September 3, 1975, as a selective enrollment school with seven teachers, headed up by the school's first principal, Bernarr Dawson.

Academic Decathlon

Whitney Young is known for its record of achievement. The Academic Decathlon team won their 20th state title and finished fourth at the national competition in 2005, 100 graduates were named Illinois State Scholars, and the Whitney Young Math Team finished first at the Chicago Citywide Math League. Additionally, the Class of 2005 had 21 National Merit Semifinalists, the third highest in the State of Illinois. The Academic Decathlon Team have been longtime champions of the Academic Decathlon (USAD); in 1995 the Whitney Young team was beaten by the team from Steinmetz High School who had obtained a copy of the test in advance. This was dramatized in the movie Cheaters. Whitney Young has been the winner of the City Academic Decathlon 24 out of the last 27 years (beaten by Northside College Preparatory High School in 2003), state champion for 22 of the last 23 years, and finished in the top five nationally for 14 of the last 16 years. The coaches are Mr. Brian Tennison and Ms Hagen (Mrs. Susan McCannon was coach through the 2007 competition), two teachers known for their unwavering dedication to the team and its competitive excellence. Every year that the Academic Decathlon team goes to the National Finals, the school holds a pep rally in support of the team. The team placed 2nd in the nation in the 2007 competition after winning yet another Illinois state title.

School Sports

Whitney Young's soccer programs have a recent history of success. In addition to winning three city titles, it regularly has successful runs in the IHSA State Playoffs. In 2007, two players from Young have signed letters of intent to play for NCAA Division I programs. Central Attacking Midfielder, Wilfrido Lara will be attending DePaul University. Goalkeeper Elliott Wall will attend Colgate University. Although these are great achievements, the program began to turn into the right direction in the 2002-2003 school year. The addition of Timothy Rosado started the path towards success for the men's program. Rosado was the most influential and fundamental addition to the program because of his leadership. He led the men's team to two semi-final appearances in the City Championship and won am IHSA Sectional Championship in his senior year. He earned the respect of his teammates through his dedication and hard work. Rosado played all positions on the field, which made him the most versatile player. Without Rosado the WY soccer program would still be a guaranteed victory in opponent's schedule.

Whitney Young Volleyball became the first public league team to win a bid to IHSA state finals. They lost to Nequea Valley Naperville in state quarterfinals. The success started with the addition of the most prolific player in Whitney Young Volleyball, Mark Litton, in the 2002-2003 volleyball season. Mark Litton now attends Marquette University and plays for the school's club team. Litton's high school career gained him many all-tournament awards. Litton was also named to the ALL-CITY team, the only Dolphin to receive this honor. Whitney Young Baseball won its first ever varsity city championship in 2007. In addition, by beating Mount Carmel High School, the team made history by being the first public league baseball team to make it to a state super-sectional. They lost to Saint Rita High School in the super-sectional 4 to 2. The Chicago Tribune ranked the Whitney Young 2007 Baseball team #8 in the state in the final rankings for 2007.[2]

The city's rivalry with Lane Tech is one of the most intense in the Chicagoland high school sports.

Extracurricular Activities

Whitney Young encourages students to actively participate in extracurricular activities, and has over 60 clubs and organizations.

The school is also known as being one of the first public high schools in the nation to use podcasts for its school radio. The school's podcasts have been featured on WLS-TV news. The Whitney Young Streaming Radio Station, known as WY Stream, was started on December 9, 2004 by orchestra teacher Martha Murphy and assistant principal Melvin Soto, as a vehicle to showcase the many talents of the Whitney M. Young High School family. The 100th episode was recorded in November 2005. Link: http://stream.wyoung.org/ Stream TV was added in 2006, and includes shows about Whitney Young High School, as well as news clips and internal features. http://stream.wyoung.org/tv/index.htm

The Whitney Young theater company ("The Company") has gained a reputation for taking on large, difficult, and technically strenuous productions. Past shows include Tommy, Les Miserables, Jesus Christ Superstar, Beethoven's Last Night, Moulin Rouge, both of which used music transposed by the students, and West Side Story. Although The Company has its merits, the productions they undertake have a substantial cost and usually result in a loss of cash flow for the high school because of the fact that their shows are not well attended and many of the attendees have gained free tickets from friends in "The Company".

Whitney Young Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. (NJROTC) is one of the top NJROTC programs in the nation. Students within the NJROTC program are involved in such teams as the Physical training, Orienteering, Color guard, Armed Exhibition drill Team & Unarmed Drill team.

Whitney Young is also one of the few high schools in the Chicago Public School System to have competing dance teams compete at the state level. For the 2005-2006 school year, Whitney Young's Guys and Dolls Dance Team placed in the top ten at the IDTA State competition.

The Whitney Young Chess Team is also one of the strongest in the state. The team has taken third place in 2006 and second place in 2007 at the IHSA State Finals.

The Whitney Young Swim Team placed first at City Championships beating Lane Tech. This had been the first time winning this title in ten years. The team also won the title of City Relay Championships for the fourth consecutive year.

The Academic Center

The Academic Center is an advanced placement program for gifted students in 7th and 8th grade. To get in a 6th grader must have gotten a five on his/her ISATS. The Academic Center is the best place for intelligent 7th and 8th graders to be. Whitney Young knows that gifted students can become bored with an enriched program. That's why their program is accelerated.

Project 30

On October 29, 2005 Whitney Young celebrated 30 years of providing education in Chicago. In conjunction with the school's celebration, known as Project 30, the school kicked off the "A Bridge To The World" campaign to raise $300,000 in funds to enhance the school's programming, development and facilities. Dr. Joyce Kenner, who is the school's third principal, said, "I think it is time to let people in the city understand how this school actually got started."

Noteworthy alumni

• Joan Higginbotham, NASA Astronaut
• Quentin Richardson of the New York Knicks, NBA star
• Andy and Larry Wachowski, writers and directors of The Matrix
• Michelle Obama, University of Chicago Hospitals Vice President, wife of United States Senator Barack Obama
• Sharif Atkins, NBC's "ER" series regular
• Russell Maryland, NFL's Super Bowl Champion
• Tonya Pinkins, Tony Award Winning actress and author
• Craig Robinson, "The Office" series regular
• Ethan Stoller, Music producer/film score composer
• John Tobias, Video Game Programmer, co-creator of video game series Mortal Kombat

External links

• Chicago Public Schools High School Directory - Whitney Young
• Official Site
• Soccer Site

References

Girls Track & Cross Country Website: http://www.young.illinoispreptoptimes.com