Taft Freshman Academy: A Comprehensive Overview
William Howard Taft High School, a prominent public high school in Chicago, operates across two campuses: the Freshman Academy (grades 7-9) and the Varsity Campus (grades 10-12). The Taft Freshman Academy serves as a dedicated learning environment for all Taft freshmen and students in grades 7 and 8 who are enrolled in Taft's Academic Center. This article delves into various aspects of the Taft Freshman Academy, including its location, facilities, academic offerings, student culture, extracurricular activities, and more.
Location and Facilities
The Taft Freshman Academy is located at 4071 N. Oak Park Avenue. This brand new, state-of-the-art facility, costing $70 million, is situated on the Northwest Side, offering a modern learning environment for its students.
The facility boasts an array of features:
- Over 18 Acres of Land
- 134,722 Square Feet
- ADA Compliant
- 35 Classrooms
- 6 Science Labs
- 3 Computer Labs
- 3 Performing Arts Rooms
- 2 Visual Arts Rooms (+Kiln)
- 3 Faculty Offices
- 1 Meeting Room
- 4 Pull-In Rooms
- 1 Media Center
- 1 Gymnatorium (850 Floor Seats, 500 Bleacher Capacity)
- Eight Lane Track
- All Purpose Soccer/Football/Lacrosse Field
The Taft Freshman Academy is bound by the rich and complex history of the site as well as by the programmatic and functional aspirations of the Chicago Public Schools. The 150,000 SF masonry-clad school for 1,350 students includes twenty-two classrooms, science labs, computer labs, art, and music suites, a gymnasium/auditorium, as well as various health and fitness-related rooms. The school has been programmatically conceived with two distinct wings in mind which interact volumetrically to give the building its unique character. The two wings converge at ground level in a double-story glass space that acts simultaneously as a programmatic link, a pre-function space for the gymnasium/auditorium and the cafeteria, and as the main entry to the school. The building’s two wings are geometrically arranged on the site in order to create two large exterior entry plazas. The North Plaza is arrival and initial welcoming space. The South Plaza, which is open to the sports field facilities of the school, was designed to be the social heart of the school. The plaza has a distinct and different character as it is intended to be more static in nature, offering numerous sitting and gathering opportunities for students and teachers to enjoy. We aimed to express a continuous and textured exterior wall that could provide the building with its unique character and expressive elegance. A colorful, vibrant array of window trims placed at selected locations, provided the building with a colorful counterpoint to the inherent sobriety of the brick masonry wall. The project success in the neighborhood rests on three key organizational achievements. First, the design provided a much-needed alternative traffic circulation strategy for the area. Secondly, the project re-framed the Read Dunning neighborhood providing a new, elegant visual backdrop from both, Irving Park and Oak Park Avenue.
Opening and School Hours
The Taft Freshman Academy officially opened in August 2019. The first day of school was Tuesday, September 3, 2019.
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The school day schedule is as follows:
- Students are expected to be at school by 7:30 am.
- First period begins promptly at 7:45 am.
- School dismisses at 3:00 pm.
- Students have eight, fifty-minute periods per day.
- The Taft Freshman Academy opens at 6:30 am and closes at 7:00 pm.
The Taft Varsity Campus and Taft Freshman Academy maintain the same schedule, start times, and dismissal times.
Student Demographics and Enrollment
The Taft Freshman Academy serves all Taft freshmen, including rising 9th-grade students from Taft’s traditional attendance boundary, rising 9th-grade students from Taft’s new proximity boundary, and students admitted to the IB Diploma and NJROTC programs. Additionally, 7th and 8th-grade students in Taft’s Academic Center also attend the Freshman Academy. The school anticipates enrolling 1,000 freshmen and an additional 200 students in Taft’s Academic Center.
Registration
Prospective students can register at the Taft Varsity Campus. It's important to make an appointment on the registration page and review the required documents, as there are specific criteria for enrolling a rising 9th-grade student.
Curriculum and Academic Offerings
All curricular and academic offerings available to Taft freshmen are also available at the Taft Freshman Academy. For a comprehensive list of classes, refer to the Taft Freshman Academy Course Catalogue.
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House Structure and Student Culture
The Taft Freshman Academy aims to meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of all students through the creation of a House structure. Students are organized into eight Houses, with approximately 150 students in each. Students in a specific House share the same core content teachers.
The purpose of the House Structure is to provide:
- A smaller ‘school within a school’
- Structures for student cohesion
- Built-in supports for learning
- Planned intentional student culture by House, including monthly House meetings, consistent messaging, and community building
- Better mechanism for interdisciplinary planning
- Better parent/guardian experience for Report Card Pick Up
Each House comprises a mix of students from IBDP, College Prep, Honors, and College Prep Inclusion programs. The Academic Center is integrated into two of the Houses. Five core teachers (Language and Literature, Individuals and Societies, Math, Science, and Language Acquisition) are assigned to each House and teach the same 150 students throughout the day. Students remain within their House for core classes but have opportunities to interact with students from other Houses through electives, lunch, PE, and extracurricular activities. Each House has a faculty member designated as the House Leader.
Athletics and Extracurriculars
The Taft Freshman Academy offers a wide range of athletic and extracurricular opportunities. There are 12 Academic Center sports and 34 freshman sports available. The majority of freshman sports and all Academic Center sports take place at the Taft Freshman Academy. Some freshman sports, such as swimming and water polo, take place at the Taft Varsity Campus due to the availability of specific facilities. The Taft Freshman Academy also has clubs that are independent of the Varsity Campus and take place on site at the Freshman Academy. Some extracurriculars, such as debate, chess, and Science Olympiad, may have a chapter at each campus. All freshmen students are welcome to participate in any activity offered at the Varsity Campus that is not offered at the Freshman Academy. Transportation between campuses for extracurricular activities is facilitated by a shuttle after school hours.
Examples of extracurricular activities include:
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- Taft Academy Singers (Choir)
- Romanian Club
Transportation
Students can get to the Taft Freshman Academy by being dropped off or by taking the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority).
Transition to Varsity Campus
After completing their freshman year at the Taft Freshman Academy, students attend the Taft Varsity Campus for 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. The Taft Varsity Campus is located at 6530 West Bryn Mawr Avenue.
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