I am glad that the Mendenhall's moved back to Skokie from California:
Mendenhall elected to make his announcement among friends at his high
school with a Niles West helmet next to the microphone.
"This
is where it all began," their mother, Sibyl Mendenhall, said. "Walter
and Rashard played on this field over to the west, and the rest is
history."The family moved back to the Chicago area from Culver City,
Calif., when the boys' father, Walter III, took a job with Avon in the
north suburbs when they were in 4th and 5th grades.
Given his current draft projections, there is a chance that he could be picked by the Bears in the first round.
A good friend of mine, Sagar Pandya, recently forwarded me this video:
Anyway, the larger point I wanted to make (and brag a little) was about my high school alma mater, Niles West. It has been a big week for Niles West (or at least in a little corner of my mind it has).
My rekindled Niles West love started about a week ago at an MIT Club of Chicago Holiday party I was attending. There were about 20 new admits, current students, and alums in the room. The rest were parents, significant others, and spouses - to bring the room total to about 50-60 people.
Anyway, all the MIT people had to introduce themselves. By the time we were done, of the 20 people, 4 were from Niles West (including myself). In that particularly small sample size, Niles West was more represented than any other high school. The next closest was IMSA, a very prestigious Illinois high school.
This brings us back to my rekindled love for Niles West. I never thought of Niles West as being a significant power house in anything (and as far as I know - is just an above average suburban public high school). So, it struck me as being odd yet a source of pride that Niles West had 4 MIT people out of a room of 20. I shared that with my girlfriend that night, but she didn't seem nearly as excited about this fact as I.
So, the next morning at work, I shared it with my executive team during a meeting. Not being Niles West alums, they too were less than thrilled.
Nevertheless, I am very proud of our little high school in Skokie, IL.
This past New Year's day was the Rose Bowl, where the Fighting Illini were playing the Trojans from
USC. While I was watching the game I got a text from a buddy of mine making fun of my years at Niles West, but more importantly reminding me that the Big Ten Player of the Year, Rashard Mendenhall was
playing in the game. Of course, Mendenhall is a Niles West alum!
Anyway, that concluded my week of Niles West love. I received that video of Sanjeev, Niles West was well represented at an MIT party, and Rashard Mendenhall was playing in the Rose Bowl.
What does it all mean? I suppose I can spew some bullshit about how Niles West amalgamates a middle-class work ethic with an edge and nurtures it so that rich/poor, majority/minority, black/white, etc, etc have a chance and opportunity to succeed. But, that's not my expertise and this post was strictly a chance to brag about Niles West and a few of the people that walked through those halls.
