[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 22268]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



     RECOGNIZING WHITNEY M. YOUNG AS OUTSTANDING PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, as the debate continues around 
the issues of vouchers, charter schools, and what some call 
alternatives to traditional public education, I take this opportunity 
to pay tribute to the Whitney M. Young Public High School in Chicago, 
Illinois, which has the distinction of being hailed number one in the 
Nation in college preparatory education.
  For 15 years, the Whitney M. Young magnet school has been number one 
in the State of Illinois. This year, the year 2000, it leads the United 
States in the numbers of its students who qualified as semi-finalists 
in the National Merit Scholarship Competition for outstanding black 
students. Twenty seniors put Whitney M. Young on the top of the list as 
a result of their ranking in the top 2 percent of youngsters in 
competition.
  Graduates of Young go on to college at the astronomical rate of 96 
percent, with the University of Illinois enrolling more than any other 
college or university. Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Yale and the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology lead other schools in enrollment 
of Whitney Young alumni.
  Mr. Speaker, Principal Joyce Kenner, her staff, local school council, 
parents, the Chicago Board of Education, and the students themselves 
are to be commended for proving, and for proving conclusively, that a 
student does not have to have a voucher or go to a private or charter 
school to achieve, and indeed to excel academically.
  So, Mr. Speaker, a school located in the inner city of Chicago, with 
a diverse student population, 50 percent of whom are black, leads the 
Nation in the number of its students who qualified as semi-finalists in 
the National Merit Scholarship Competition for outstanding students. So 
just as Whitney Young practiced excellence in his life and work, the 
Whitney M. Young High School has built and continues to develop a 
legacy of excellence in preparation of its students for college, for 
life, and for service to humanity.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, I commend all of those who have been a part of 
the development of this outstanding institution: the parents of the 
community where the school is located, the parents who serve on the 
local school advisory council, the principal, members of the faculty, 
and the Chicago Board of Education itself, who continue to prove that 
public education can in fact thrive; that it can flourish; that it has 
worked and continues to work when we put the resources where the need 
exists.

                          ____________________