A former NFL player and Niles West alum was honored at an in-school assembly on Sept. 22. Rashard Mendenhall visited West after being inducted into the Hall of Fame at the University of Illinois.

Varsity football player and junior at West Alexander Yohanna was among the athletes who were excited to welcome Mendenhall back to West.

“The assembly was very eye-opening to me because it is insane to think that an NFL player went to the same high school I go to,” Yohanna said. “Mendenhall is an inspiration to me and many others on the team because he proved that, regardless of where you come from, anything you dream of is possible. Hearing what he had to say about the struggles had faced growing up made me feel for him on a personal level.”

While most football players agree with Yohanna, some teachers were skeptical about the whole situation.

“I think it is great that we are supporting people in our community, and obviously Mendenhall has a lot of great achievements. I know he is a role model to many at this school, but my only question was why it was during the school day?” English teacher Dena Lichterman said. “Jewell Loyd was also a role model and has won many championships, as well, but her number retirement was in the evening at a game that was open to the community. It caused me pause as to why one was during the school day and required all students to come, and one was during the evening.  They are both equally accomplished athletes and incredible role models.”

A few teachers believed that many students, who don’t play football or don’t know much about football, would have a hard time staying entertained throughout the hour-long assembly.

“It has been a long time since Rashard has been here, and I am assuming most students did not really know who he [is],” Social Studies teacher Joe Edwards said. “Also, at the assembly, there weren’t a lot of highlight reels, so I can understand why it would have been difficult for many students to not get super excited. All in all, I think it is good to recognize alumni, but we didn’t do anything like this for Jewell Loyd. Therefore, it is quite problematic because we didn’t have some sort of large in-school event for Loyd.”

Loyd’s accomplishments at the Olympics happened during COVID-19, and Niles West was operating with full COVID-19 mitigations. In Nov. 2021, when Loyd’s jersey retirement took place, West was not hosting assemblies for any reason. Such all-school assemblies did not resume until Feb. of 2022.  West was unable to have a homecoming dance and a homecoming pep assembly. Students were still wearing masks, due to Skokie Health Department guidelines. 

“We were all just doing the best we could [during that time],” West Athletic Director Dr. Dana Krilich said. “We (staff) wanted to make sure we got to highlight Jewell Loyd right after [her] Olympic Gold medal. Her after-school jersey retirement had more press and VIP [guests]. When Jewell was here, the school had live news coverage” of the event.

West is home to many notable alumni, including people with accomplishments outside the world of athletics.

“I look forward to one day also having an assembly to celebrate the accomplishments of people like Merrick Garland, the attorney general of the United States,” Lichterman said.