(Left to right) UChicago Charter School chief executive officer and director Shayne Evans, Illinois State Senator Kwame Raoul (D-13), Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, Diana Rauner, Amy Rule, University of Chicago president Robert Zimmer, UChicago Charter School parent Dorva Underwood and Urban Education Institute director Sara Stoelinga pose during a ceremonial groundbreaking for the University of Chicago Charter School Woodlawn Campus, Wednesday, Sept. 14.
By JOSEPH PHILLIPS
Freelance Writer
On Wednesday Sep.14, several groups and community leaders from the Hyde Park and Woodlawn area gathered together to celebrate the University of Chicago (U. of C.) groundbreaking ceremony for the building of its new facility, the U. of C. Charter School Woodlawn Campus (UCW), located at 6300 S. University Ave.
Shayne Evans, CEO and director of Youth Chicago Charter Schools said the new building would provide access to improved grade-level appropriate resources and spaces, technology-equipped classrooms, state-of-the-art engineering and science labs, a regulated gymnasium appropriate for high school students and staff, a media arts space, an athletic field, and a college resource center open to UCW students, graduates, and Woodlawn community members.
“By building a new facility, the school was able to invest in the lives and the future of our students and the Woodlawn community as a whole,” Evans said. “The new space will help serve an additional 100 students, while allowing more students to experience the UChicago Charter School superhighway to college.”
Several elected officials were in attendance for the groundbreaking ceremony including State Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-13), Chicago’s First Lady Amy Rule and Gov. Bruce Rauner and Illinois’ First Lady Diana Rauner, who is the president of the Ounce of Prevention Fund, through the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.
University of Chicago (U. of C.) Charter School chief executive officer and director Shayne Evans (with back to camera) moves protesting U. of C. Charter School students from East 64th Street into the Woodlawn Campus building as luminaries leave a ceremonial groundbreaking for the school’s new building, Wednesday, Sept. 14.
According to the UCW website, the current school serves approximately 650 students (6th through 12th-grade) in a facility that was built for elementary students only. Despite the facility’s limitations, UCW has managed to develop a strong track record for preparing students for college acceptance and graduation, celebrating their fifth year in a row of 100 percent college acceptance for graduating seniors.
In addition to the ceremony, a group of peaceful protesters from UCW Class of 2017, lined up outside the event to voice their displeasure about the culture changes that were being made in their school such as the discontinuation of the morning peace circle where the entire school gathers together to motivate each other.
hpherald@hpherald.com