Teacher Spotlight
David Garlin, the enthusiastic and charismatic math teacher is passionate in everything he does, from the classroom to helping out the National Honor Society. D.G, as his students call him, has his hands tied with everything he's involved in. There is nothing David turns down when it comes to helping his students.
Garlin graduated high school from Crete-Monee, a school in Illinois, and then attended Indiana University Northwest. Garlin is certified in teaching mathematics and is a radiography technician. When he's not in the school providing service, he's in the hospital helping patients.
Garlin takes pride in his teaching capabilities. With SAT and ACT around the corner, he has been working overtime, trying to fit all of his material into hour and ten-minute class periods. Its a difficult task, but his enthusiasm can still be felt throughout the school. It's apparent that he's excited to be at the board every day. Garlin also provides tutoring services nationwide, via online networks.
D.G is very altruistic; he puts the well-being of his seniors above everything else. He has giving up countless planning periods and additional time during lunch hour.
When asked where his passion and drive came from he stated, "My passion for higher learning is deeply rooted from my mother who was incredibly passionate about the field of education."
Garlin is genuine, involved, and ambitious. He comes up with the great ideas, he's involved with the students in and out of the class, and he volunteers for many different activities. These highlights are only scratching the surface of what he does for those around him. All of these characteristics are why David Garlin, D.G, deserves a light shined on him.
"The belief that all students can learn keeps me returning to the classroom," Garlin said.
The Cougars Commerce
The Entrepreneur Club is cooking up a fresh idea to bring to West Side Leadership Academy. The Entrepreneur Club, with the help of West Side’s alumni, are planning on opening a school store that will be accessible to the students and staff. The store shelves will be stocked with simple school necessities like paper, notebooks, and pencils. However, instead of just doing school supplies they've also decided to add things like polo shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies to the inventory. These simple fashion favorites will feature a West Side logo so customers can show their cougar pride and look good.
The Entrepreneur Club has the intention to run the store as a legitimate business with cash registers and staff who are required to fill out job applications. Students can fill positions such as cashier and clerk just as they would in a typical store in the area.
Since this store will be treated like a business, positions like Accounting Specialist and Human Relations department will exist. To ensure that the students learn how to do their jobs properly and learn from the experience, the alumni are pulling their resources to get a trained professional in almost every position to give advice and guidance.
The club is getting ready to do a soft launch of the official store within the week. This soft launch will take place directly after school in the surge. Since the location is everything, the surge is the perfect place to set up shop. After school almost every student exits the building through this area, making it high traffic. The club plans to use the surge as a highway to sales.
What's Going On:
As the end of November rolled around, report cards were printed and turkeys purchased for the season. Students enjoyed some time to give their books a break and stuff their bellies. After stuffing their bellies and getting Black Friday shopping out of the way, the only thing left to do was head to West Side Leadership Academy for an amazing show.
This year is the 10th anniversary of the Lakeside Classic, a highly anticipated West Side event. Alumni, current students, staff, and administrators will be present in the building. This two-day tournament not only draws those associated with the school, but community members as well.
The first day includes the West Side Leadership Academy Varsity Girls playing against the East Chicago Central High School Varsity Girls at 6pm. Then the Gary Theodore Roosevelt CCA Varsity Boys face the East Chicago Central High Varsity Boys at 8 pm.
Day two consists of the Thea Bowman Academy Varsity Boys against the Chicago Farragut High School Varsity Boys at 6pm, then at 8pm the West Side Leadership Academy Boys Varsity take on the Michigan City Marquette Catholic High Varsity Boys.
Everyone in attendance will be excited to see the players go head to head for the love of the game. During the tournament there will also be a performance from the Lady Cougar Cheerleaders and the Lady Cougar Majorettes. Held at West Side Leadership Academy on 9th Avenue and Gerry St, adult tickets are $8 in advance or $10 at the door. Students ticket are $5 in advance and $7 at the door.
Student spotlight
Teionte Mitchell, a senior basketball player at Westside Leadership Academy has been through a lot with injuries during his high school career. He spent his junior year sitting out of the games due to a serious injury, but has found himself finally able to return to the game for his senior year.
His injury happened on May 23, 2016, when Mitchell went to an open gym in East Chicago. Everything was as normal until he went for a layup and came down on his knee wrong. After that he could barely walk, but brushed it off as something that would pass, continuing to play basketball.
After weeks of the same excruciating pain, he decided to go to the hospital.
“I had so many mixed emotions sitting under the x-ray. I was thinking to myself "is this really it? Will I ever play basketball again?'" explained Mitchell.
About 30 mins after the x-rays, results came in and the doctor revealed that he had torn his ACL and MCL. He found he would be unable to play sports for seven to eight months and would need extensive rehab before being cleared to play again. “That was the worst day of my life. I didn’t know what to do with myself," said Mitchell.
Luckily rehab was a success and Mitchell is back! He recently played his first game as a senior and performed well against Marquette Catholic out of Michigan City. He scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds during his time on the court. After the game, he was ecstatic to be back on the court.
“I feel great, I have to thank God for giving me this opportunity to play the sport I love again. I will never take this for granted again,” said Mitchell.