Chicago City Wire

The Chicago City Council applauded two local high schools for their achievements in sports and beyond during its Jan. 18 city council meeting.

The council first recognized two student athletes, a coach and the president of Simeon High School, and then recognized four students, a coach and the principal of Mount Carmel Catholic High School. Both groups were recognized for their boys' football teams' championship seasons. 

Simeon won the 2022 Chicago City Public Schools championship, and Mount Carmel won its 14th state championship for football. The latter is an all-boys high school in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood that opened in 1900 and has served the community for more than 120 years.

Chicago Alderman Matthew O'Shea, himself a Mount Carmel graduate, congratulated the students, as well as the staff and families, before speaking about the school's past graduates and their connections to Chicago in the present day.

Many of the city's 50 aldermen spoke in favor of the recognition and congratulated the parties involved. They spoke highly of both the schools' athletic programs and their academic and mentoring programs. Many of the aldermen were graduates of one school or the other, or they remembered competing against one of their teams while they were in school.

"Chicago, of course, is a sports city, and these teams really stand out in the history of sports teams and high school teams in particular," Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) said at the meeting. "It says a lot about, I think, not only the coaching and the commitment, but also about the quality of the young men that are populating both of these teams. At the high school level, we know there has to be incredible perseverance, determination and talent leading these players to success. Not only did each team win their respective championship, but they were the winning team throughout their season. Mount Carmel was undefeated, and as Alderman Moore says, that is an incredible accomplishment across all the incredible competition that you face, that you won 14-0. Kudos to you, gentlemen. Quite an accomplishment. And Simeon finished their season 12-1, also an incredible accomplishment. The greatness of these players, their coaches and the school communities rallying behind them is clear."