Walter Payton College Prep - History

History

Walter Payton College Prep, founded in 2000, is part of the Chicago Public Schools system. The school, which is located on Chicago's near north side, is notably one of the top of the city's nine selective enrollment high schools. It was named after football legend Walter Payton, a former member of the Chicago Bears who died shortly before the school was opened. The school colors are blue and orange, the colors of the Bears . (The school's team was originally called the Navigators, but it was later changed by a student vote to the Grizzlies, an admittedly more "athletic" name that pays homage to their hometown pro football team.) After principal Gail Ward left the school in 2006, Ellen Estrada became principal. In 2011, a new administration was formed under Timothy Devine with D'Andre Weaver and Michelle Washington as Assistant Principals. In May 2006 the Confucius Institute in Chicago was opened at Payton, as a partnership between Chicago Public Schools, the Office of Chinese Language Council International and Shanghai's East China Normal University it is the only Confucius Institute in the world housed in a high school. On January 21, 2011, President Hu Jintao of China visited the school, where he saw the KAM and AP Chinese classes, and invited 20 faculty and students to China for the upcoming summer. The Payton Choir was one of only eight US choirs to travel to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Payton is the setting for the young adult novel ridiculous/hilarious/terrible/cool: A Year in an American High School by Elisha Cooper. In the movie Beastly, Payton's facade was used as the fictional Buckston Academy High School.