It’s always a bit of a surprise to show up on the first day of school greeted by many renovations around the WY campus. The past school year brought brand new improvements in Blue and Red house, as well as two new couches on the Arts Bridge. This year Principal Joyce Kenner and Melvin Soto have continued to refurbish our three building campus.

“I want to create better learning spaces. We had a very good summer, we accomplished a lot of our goals for the students and for the school,” Soto said about his role in the facility upgrade.

During the summer, Kenner notified students and families about upcoming enhancements to the school. This year’s upgrade has included a new science lab on the third floor, new flooring in the art gallery, a room for the diverse learning students, and new carpeting and
countertops in the library.

The room for diverse learning students, which is located in the main building on the first floor, has been completely redesigned as an apartment living space. Its purpose is to teach special education students how to perform day-to-day activities like doing laundry, folding clothes and making a bed.

“We were very focused this summer on getting a lot of these projects done,” said
Kenner. “Without the
Campaign of Champions we wouldn’t have been able to achieve so much.”

All of these upgrades have been made possible by the donors to the Campaign of Champions, which is a program launched by Friends of Whitney Young (FOWY) to help raise money to improve WY facilities. FOWY is made up of WY parents who raise money to aid the school in providing resources CPS doesn’t fund, as a result of city budget cuts.

WY students have greeted these new additions with positivity, although many sulk in disappointment in finding that certain aspects of the school have been ignored.

“It’s cool that there’s so much that the school can do for us, but I’d have liked to see cleaner bathrooms for once,” says Isabella Fertel, ‘16.

New bathrooms were originally on the list for changes in the new school year, but because the costs were too high for such a grand task, the bathrooms were put on hold, and other tasks were given priority.

Kenner strongly supports renovations to the school, which this year is celebrating its’ 40th year anniversary. Kenner states that the aim is to continue restoring aspects of the school, which do include the bathrooms, but also window shades and ceiling tiles.

“Our goal” Kenner adds, “is to have everything completed in the next two years.”