There’s a new energy at Horizon Science Academy McKinley Park High.
Since opening its doors this fall, the school’s high school campus has already proven to be transformational for everyone in the building. Having a space HSA McKinley Park High’s 9-12th graders can call their own has created a unique high school culture the school has been working towards for years.
“We’re building this together,” HSA McKinley Park High’s principal Seat Vedziovski said. “It’s definitely a community where we’re working together with parents, students and staff. It’s not one person making all of these decisions. We’re doing it united and it’s been very pleasant to see all of [the students’] excitement so far.”
One of the biggest upgrades to the student experience has been the full-scale launch of the school’s career and technical education program. Vedziovski mentioned HSA has been “planting the seeds” for its CTE programming in recent years but hasn’t been able to actualize his vision for it until the purchase of the new campus was approved.
HSA currently offers four pathways (business management and administration, health science, computer science and education) which are already getting rave reviews from its upperclassmen.
“What I personally love about this year is that [HSA McKinley Park High] offers CTE classes,” HSA senior Mario Delgado III said. “In my business class, we’re currently learning about investing stocks and how to manage your money properly. I really like it because now I get a sense of the real world and how I can use my money, make an investment and how I can grow personally.”
PICTURED: Anjalee Ramirez (left) and Messiah Whitehorn (right) standing next to CTE program messaging at HSA McKinley Park High.
Beyond the benefits of adding a robust CTE program, the seniors have loved being able to cultivate a true high school culture within their new space. Class president Gracie Griggs has enjoyed having the flexibility to organize more high-school centric events, including fundraising the campus’s first Halloween party that featured a band they hired to play in the school’s refurbished gym.
Gone are the days of competing with all of HSA’s sports teams for practice space and being squished shoulder to shoulder during school assemblies.
“It all goes back to having our own independence and having the focus be on us,” Griggs said. “I’ve had both students and teachers go up to me saying this is the most student council has done since they have been here. I feel that not just because we push for it but because we’re heard.”
“This biggest change has been the growth of students and the amount of freedom we have now,” sophomore Anjalee Ramirez added. “Since this move, we get treated differently with more freedom and more creativity because we don’t have the elementary kids.”
It’s not that the high schoolers didn’t enjoy mentoring the elementary school students (they endearingly refer to both campuses as “Big Mac” and “Little Mac,” according to Ramirez). However, they now have more opportunities to be leaders in their school. Senior Aiden Vazquez has spearheaded a new mental health initiative at HSA, something he said he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish at the K-12 school given the hurdles that come with getting something of that magnitude approved at all administrative levels.
Vazquez, who also now has an expanded role as a student ambassador at the school, believes the students feel empowered compared to previous years.
PICTURED: Principal Vedziovski cutting ribbon during HSA McKinley Park High's opening this past fall.
“I think [the smooth transition to the new campus] says a lot about the community we have here,” he said.
HSA’s fresh feel has also received praise from the students outside of the cohort that came from the previous campus. Transfer student Messiah Whitehorn has already been fully integrated into the family culture that emanates throughout the building. Having previously attended a Chicago public school that had overpopulated class sizes and teachers who couldn’t give him the attention he felt he needed, Whitehorn had nothing but good things to say about his new school.
“At [my previous school], I felt like I wasn’t seen,” he said. “At this school, they treat me like I mean something here. That’s what I love being around––being able to have open communication with teachers and being able to stop by class after school [with teachers] who can assist you anytime.”
While the launching of the new campus has been overwhelmingly successful, this is only the beginning for HSA. The school is projecting to increase its enrollment by around 50 students and has a growth plan set in place to offer more families the option to attend one of the best schools in Illinois.
As HSA and its programming expands, one thing is certainly not changing anytime soon: the community touch that has woven into the school’s fabric for years.
“I’ve experienced middle school here, I’ve experienced high school here and my favorite thing [about HSA] is our school community,” Griggs said. “What we have here is special.”
