Whitney Young’s Brandon Jonathon Dokliev (’17) brings humor, wit, intellect, and talent with him to school every day. He lives in the O’Hare neighborhood on the northwest side of the city of Chicago. “The best part about being a Dolphin,” he says, “is being a champion.” Contrastingly, the worst part, according to him, “is the part where I have no friends and hate this community,” he says sarcastically.

Born into Bulgarian heritage, Brandon has had to learn to balance American and Bulgarian culture. Wake Forest next year to study business, he seems to fit in well. However, he occasionally lets a Bulgarian word slip in conversation. He has an interest in nature and the outdoors and is excited to spend time in the North Carolina woodlands next year.

Brandon spends 20-40 minutes every morning on his hair, which other people may not find productive. However, he has a dream of having “thicker hair and maybe some braids at some point before getting a real job.”

Thankfully, Whitney Young landed student and life enthusiast Brandon Dokliev, but he may have ended up at Taft High School. He admits he was “a little upset” when his grade school love attended Taft instead of Whitney Young. Taft is less than a mile from his house, but he—fortunately for Whitney Young—chose to make a two hour trek every day to the west loop.

Brandon Dokliev has an interesting story, and is more than willing to share his background. Stop him in the halls and ask him about his story about the squirrel and the alderman of his neighborhood if you have time.