Chicago Cubs Visit Bronzeville School

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Chicago Cubs players and staff visited Perspectives Math and Science Academy on Jan 11. (Photo by Thelma Sardin)
Chicago Cubs players and staff visited Perspectives Math and Science Academy on Jan 11. (Photo by Thelma Sardin)

Students at Perspectives/IIT Math & Science Academy located 3663 South Wabash Ave. were rewarded for academic excellence last Wednesday afternoon when several players, coaches and staff members of the Chicago Cubs baseball team stopped by.

Laura Ricketts, Cubs co-owner and Theo Epstein, President of Baseball Operations were among the teams staff in attendance. Players present included James Russell, Chris Carpenter and David DeJesus along with coaches Lester Strode and Rudy Jaramillo.

Tiffany L. Harston, assistant principal told the Chicago Citizen that Perspectives does a lot of volunteer work with the Cubs.

The players were met with applause and loud cheers from screaming fans when they walked out on to the schools stage which is also where they engaged the students in trivia games and gave away prizes.

Students also received the opportunity to ask the players and staff several questions about education, careers and goals.

Epstein encouraged students to stay focused and to follow their dreams.

Follow what you love. Your whole life there are going to be expectations put on you. What other people want you to be, how other people want you to act. The best advice I could give is really to follow your heart and do what you love, he said.

Epstein added that he originally wanted to be a lawyer and even earned a law degree; however he realized baseball was his passion.

When I was in school I was thinking about becoming a lawyer and I actually went to law school while working in baseball. The more I found out about being a lawyer the more I realized it was just solving other peoples problems. It gave me a headache. I said, if could combine the things I learned in school, working hard and putting my best foot forwardI could apply those to something that I love like baseball. .. That ended up working out for me, he said.

Danielle Thames, sophomore asked the team what the keys to success for education were. Laura Ricketts answered, I think that its a lot of hard work, dedication and prioritizing school work. Anything that is worth achieving is worth working forNot being discouraged, being persistent, and finding what interests you in terms of [a] career. Finding what youre passionate about and what you really love doing. And then really dedicating yourself to that and making it a priority.

Students who excel academically were invited to the event.

Our high school students had to have a 3.0 or higher for the semester. For our middle school students, they had to have all As and Bs, said Harston.

Harston said she appreciated that the team came to Perspectives and admires their willingness to maintain a connection with the community.

I think its amazing that the North Side is starting to migrate to the South Side for other than the South Side-North Side rivalry. I think its really, really important that they are actually coming into the community and not just being on the outskirts of the community, she said.

Perspectives students were very pleased with the visit.

I was grateful that they came out and talked to us. About their careers and how they were successful in their lives. I appreciated them and I think it was a great experience for everyone at the school, said LaShay Holloway, sophomore.

By Thelma Sardin

Twitter:@thelmasardin

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