Newest Campus of the Noble Network of Charter Schools Opens its Doors to Over 500 Public School Students
On September 29, the Noble Network of Charter Schools opened its new Mansueto High School campus, Noble’s first on Chicago’s Southwest Side, to 526 freshmen and sophomores in the Brighton Park neighborhood. Students, faculty, parents, lawmakers, and members of the community eagerly gathered in the school’s gymnasium to celebrate the opening of the school.
Milicent Stiger, a sophomore and Mansueto’s first-ever student council president was the ribbon cutting ceremony emcee. “I am confident that the education and support I am receiving here at Mansueto High School will bring me success during my high school career and beyond,” she exclaimed.
Stiger began taking classes with other students last year as a freshman at a temporary site before the new building had been constructed. To be in this beautiful brand new building was extra special for the now sophomores who didn’t have a school last year. In just one year, students already showed tremendous school pride and expressed their gratefulness to be part of Mansueto.
While addressing the hundreds of students in the bleachers, Mansueto’s dynamic Principal Darko Simunovic shared, “You have so many people working behind the scenes to make sure you have a good education. To say it takes a village is truly an understatement. Through collaboration, resilience, excellence, and optimism, all things are possible.”
Noble’s 17th high school campus, Mansueto joins Chicago’s highest performing network of non-selective public schools. Noble currently serves 12,000 Chicago public school students. Each year, 99 percent of Noble graduates are accepted to college, including prominent universities across Illinois and the country, while earning millions of dollars in scholarships.
“This building is no doubt architecturally beautiful, but what is really beautiful is what goes on inside these walls.” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel at the podium. “Noble students earned $430 million in scholarships this year, a full third of what the entire (CPS) system earned. So, that shows you what we’re doing here.”
Mansueto High School offers extremely rigorous college preparatory courses to all students, and is planning its first graduation for the Class of 2020. With strong resilience and unwavering discipline, the students at Mansueto will proudly graduate from our nation’s highest performing universities and use the skills gained there to enact positive change across the globe.
The school’s benefactors, Joe and Rika Mansueto, generously funded a significant community need that will positively impact thousands of lives.
“All students should have access to a high-quality, public education,” said Mansueto parent Vicky Enciso. “Everyone should have the opportunity to attend college. Mansueto High School brings this type of education to our neighborhood. Thank you to the Mansueto family for investing in our neighborhood and in our kids.”
Natalie Arroyo has worked for the Noble Network of Charter Schools, the largest charter public school network in Chicago, since 2015. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.