40 Stories

Advocating for students means supporting them at school and providing a listening ear. It’s also about organizing activities to keep...

As told by Emily Molson and Pedro Peralta, West40 Seniors Plus Advocates   “In the West40 Seniors Plus program, we work with high school seniors who, for whatever reason, weren’t able to graduate. They’re anywhere from 18 to 22 years old and they come to us for help with finishing their education. There’s a steady flow of people that we serve. Some weeks we have two graduates, other times it’s five graduates". During a normal school year, the faculty and staff within a buildi

West40’s goals are audacious. We don’t just want to help students graduate, or just get them back on track. We want to turn each and every student into a leader in their community. We realized that we could instill a sense of leadership by gathering students and their caregivers for a day of motivation and empowerment. And so in partnership with Triton College, the Community Alliance, the alliance’s member organizations, and State Representative Kathleen Willis and her staff,

Summer wasn’t quite the same in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the country and disrupted almost everything about our lives, including the end of the school year. But at Morton East High School, West40’s ALOP advocates were determined to stay connected to their students and help any way they could. “Ever since schools closed in March, I’ve maintained contact with my students every single week and stayed persistent,” said Juan Silva, a student advocate. “We held

What if West40’s approach to teaching at-risk kids could influence the way we teach every student in the state of Illinois? That was the big question we were asking ourselves as we welcomed legislators to the West40 Safe School on a sunny August morning. This Legislative Round Table brought together a wide range of people with a vested interest in making schools better: state legislators, Safe School students, West40 leadership and the leader of the state board of education.

For most kids, the holiday season is filled with magic and wonder. They write wish lists. They daydream about what presents they might receive. They think about the gifts they’ll give to people they love the most. But what about families who can’t afford gifts? What happens to them? For the West40 Safe Schools, those were questions that led to the creation of the “Christmas Bingo” event. At this event, now a beloved annual tradition, Safe School students have the chance to ch

School is a place to learn. To improve your knowledge and prepare for a bright future. But it can also be a place where families connect—where they can share something greater together. The West40 ALOP program decided to create that spirit of togetherness by holding a Thanksgiving dinner that invited students, teachers, administrators and families to gather for a meal and mark another year. Parents are usually asked to come to school for routine events—like parent-teacher con

For many administrators, the word “compliance” fills them with a sense of dread. They imagine regulators coming into their schools to find infractions, write up reports and threaten them with building closures. From its infancy, the West40 compliance department set out to be different. Their goal is to work with schools as a trusted partner—not an enforcer—to create the safest school environments for students, teachers and staff. It was that mindset that the West40 team carri