Record #: R2018-520   
Type: Resolution Status: Adopted
Intro date: 5/25/2018 Current Controlling Legislative Body:
Final action: 5/25/2018
Title: Recognition of Earle STEM Elementary School Chess Team on accomplishments
Sponsors: Lopez, Raymond A.
Attachments: 1. R2018-520.pdf

RESOLUTION

 

 

WHEREAS, The Earle STEM Elementary School, located in Chicago's great South Side, is among the top elementary school chess teams in Chicago, in Illinois and in the country today; and,

 

WHEREAS, In the past three years, the Earle STEM Elementary School Chess Team has garnered a considerable number of team and individual trophies, in its participation in national, state, city and local chess tournaments. Its members have become rated members of the United States Chess Federation, the nation's highest chess authority, thereby enabling them aspire for college scholarships and grants for chess-related activities; and,

 

WHEREAS, The Earle STEM Elementary School Chess Team was organized only in September 2015 when Coach Joseph M. Ocol joined the Earle STEM faculty; that the chess team has had the all-out support and inspiration given by Network 11 Chief Megan Hougard, the Earle STEM school administration led by Principal Cederall Petties and Assistant Principal Elwanda Butler, and the family of parents in the Local School Council Community headed by Darlene O'Banner; and,

 

WHEREAS, At its inception, the Earle STEM Elementary School Chess Team members started mentoring one another not just about chess but also in math, and then spread the mentoring program from Grade 8 to the kindergarten program; that the Earle STEM mentoring program has been effective in getting kids to mentor one another and competing against each other, thus providing the least expensive way of mastering skills and yet giving opportunities to kids in becoming productive after school instead of being on the streets; and,

 

WHEREAS, In June 2016, for the first time in its history, the Earle STEM Elementary School was invited to send its members (who won the 2016 All-Girls National Chess Championship) to the White House and to meet President Obama; and,

 

WHEREAS, The Earle STEM Elementary School Chess Team continues to perform well, that just this year, the team won four national trophies and its girls won 6th Place in the 2018 All-Girls National Chess Championships, with Whitney Young Magnet School winning 3rd Place and the other awards won by schools from New York, Texas and Philadelphia; and,

 

WHEREAS, the chess program of Earle STEM Elementary School has been geared not on winning trophies and medals but rather in saving lives of children at Englewood; though its chess program helps underprivileged children make their lives productive by developing their critical thinking skills so they will be able to make the right choices in their lives, the Earle chess program has had a deeper sense of fulfilling its mission to the people in Englewood: to save lives and make lives of children more meaningful; and,

 

 

 

 

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WHEREAS, Located in Englewood community, Earle STEM Elementary School has more than 90% of its population coming from below-poverty level households - and yet has proven that poverty is no barrier to success in intellectual pursuits such as the game of chess; that most of the members of the Earle Chess Team have excellent grades in math, thus also proving that the impact of chess on the academic performance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects are too significant to be ignored; that chess players develop greater skills in math, reading, in problem-solving, pattern recognition, critical thinking, spatial reasoning, and visual memory, that they become better decision makers, a skill that will benefit them in steering their career and future; and,

 

WHEREAS, Just this School Year 2017-2018, Earle STEM Elementary School has become a Level 1 Plus school considering the school's outstanding performance in the academics, student attendance, graduation rates, and on track record, which surely can also be attributed to its awesome chess program that has helped many students become better thinkers, despite the challenges they have been facing in their day-to-day lives; and,

 

WHEREAS, The Honorable Raymond Lopez, Alderman of the 15th Ward, has informed this august body of the remarkable achievements of the members of the Earle STEM Elementary School Chess Team and its Network 11 Family, its students, educators, parents and staff, specifically 8th Grader Tamya Fultz, 8th Grader Breanna Shaw, 7th Grader Joshua Buchanan, 5th Grader Gavin Harry, 5th Grader Christina Williams, 4th Grader Taahir Levi, Parent-Chaperon Andrea Smith, Coach Joseph Ocol, Principal Cederrall Petties, Assistant Principal Elwanda Butler, LSC Community Head Darlene O'Banner, Network 11 Chief Megan Hougard and Deputy Chief Julious Lawson; now therefore,

 

BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the Mayor and the Members of the City of Chicago City Council, assembled here this twenty-third day of May 2018, relay our warmest congratulations, commendation and appreciation to the Earle STEM Elementary School, the Chicago Public Schools Network 11, and all the members of the chess team and its local school council of parents, teachers and staff; and,

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That suitable copies ofthis Resolution shall be prepared and presented, before this august bojiy, to everyone mentioned in this Resolution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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