Northwest Middle School principal Margaret Byrne got two big surprises related to the Cubs. The first was when she found out the Hanson Park school was chosen for a stop on the Cubs outreach tour on Thursday.
The second was when she was presented with a No. 17 jersey with “ROAR” on the back by several Cubs players in attendance, including Anthony Rizzo, Willson Contreras, among others.
The players spent time with the students chatting and painting Cubs-themed posters. During an Anthony Rizzo advised the students to “stay strong and dream big,” and avoid being derailed by adversity. Laura Ricketts donated $2,500, and Rizzo’s foundation matched it.
City Year, an AmeriCorps program, identified Northwest Middle as a school in an impoverished community that could benefit from a financial and morale boost.
As a lifelong Cubs fan, Byrne described Thursday’s visit as “overwhelming. I didn’t know at the beginning of the interview with City Year that it was going to be the Cubs that were potentially visiting here. .. So when i found out it was the Cubs, I was taken aback.”
“If the (City Year) volunteers showed up here and spent 30 minutes and left, our kids would’ve left here standing taller than they did yesterday. … But the fact our kids are going home today saying that the Cubs wanted to see them and want to be part of our community, that’s the real magic right there.”
