Happy New Year! It’s the second decade of the Kenwood Academy Brotherhood. Over 750 young men have experienced “True Brotherhood” since our beginning in 2004. Currently, the Brotherhood is doing well. The
senior members are taking their responsibilities very seriously by providing peer mentoring to each other. The officers are collaborating to ensure that the Brotherhood is alive and active. 

The 2019-2020 Brotherhood year is going strong. Brotherhood still meets twice a week. Wednesdays, during Advisory, tends to be the most popular meeting. Friday meetings are still strong, but we have time constraints with the athletes that are dividing their time between Brotherhood and practice. So far, the officers have presented thought provoking topics and interesting creative ice breakers. The Kenwood Administration placed exercise machines near our Wednesday meeting space. It has become the “warm up” spot before the guys engage in male mentoring topics. 

The 3rd Annual Fundraising Gala held on October 10, 2019 was a huge success. Honorees David Borom, Cortez Hicks, Xavier Thorns, Anthony Downing, and Elizabeth Kirby gave compelling acceptance speeches indicating their continued support of the Kenwood Brotherhood. The most influential speeches for the evening came from current Brotherhood members Kamaree Abel, Brian Calhoun, Jeremiah Johnson, and Jeremiah Pope. Each one told their personal story of how the Brotherhood has helped them to stay on a positive path. Alumni Jordan Lanfair was so compelled that he volunteered to donate $1000 in a college scholarship to any Brotherhood member that chooses teacher education as a college major. 

The Holiday Social was enjoyed on December 19, 2019. The guys donated socks/hats/scarves/gloves to be donated to the homeless Pacific Gardens Mission in Chicago.