City, mayor honor high-achieving CPS Champions across several fields

Chicago Public Schools honored more than a dozen students Monday night during the inaugural CPS Champions celebration, which recognizes students outside the usual bounds of athletic and academic honors.

Mayor Brandon Johnson addressed the crowd at Truman College’s O’Rourke Theatre, lauding the “best part of who we are as a city” — young people.

“You are part of the change and transformation the city of Chicago is waiting for,” Johnson said. “You will help us all build a better, stronger and much-safer Chicago.”

Those being recognized were chosen by the CPS offices of Teaching and Learning, College and Career Success and Network Support.

Four of the honorees — Jaylen Lee, Leroy Moore, Antonio Carter and Deshawn Threadgill — are Chicago Vocational Career Academy seniors. They are developing an app to help students fine-tune their college and career search.

They came in first in an app development competition this year and received a $10,000 grant. They’re using different tools to build their own AI from the ground up so the app can better match users with potential educational and job paths.

The four aspire to pursue higher education in some form — with several of them hoping to keep part of the team going at Illinois State University, where Threadgill has already been accepted — but they realize “college isn’t for everybody.”

Antonio said the amount of information students take in as they look to the future can be overwhelming, which is why the team is building a “one-stop shop.”

“We want to help other students and other people like us,” Leroy said.

“If this can help my sister or my cousins, I’ll be satisfied,” Antonio added.

Additionally, the quartet of coders said they hope the app can help reduce crime by removing obstacles that might keep students from pursuing further education or career opportunities and just give up.

The team also got some help in looking sharp for the Monday night occasion from Chicago Bulls player Coby White, who paid for the boys to get new suits and met with them before the big night.

Also being honored at the event was 9th grader Aisling Panjwani, a Walter Payton College Prep student who took first place at several varsity policy debate competitions last year.

Aisling, who uses any pronouns, said many debaters get too focused on loading speeches with facts. Aisling, a self-described fast talker, can do the same, but they said they prefer to find the human element in the arguments — which they attributed to their parents telling them to “look for the good in things.”

“Being a lawyer and being a debater isn’t just presenting facts,” Aisling said. “What is that one little kid who could be affected? You always have to look for the people aspect.”

Their advice to others hoping to stand in their place on stage next year: “Focus on what you’re really good at, not just what most people do. … A little bit of effort will go a lot further.”