Destiny Singleton stood inside a Garfield Park church last November. Every seat was filled for the community event, but her voice was measured as she spoke into the microphone. The question put to her was simple: What would you change about your school?
“One thing I wish that could be improved is how admin treats the student voice,” Singleton told the crowd, her neon blue braids draping her shoulders.
Singleton, a senior at Ogden International High School, is used to speaking up. As the honorary student member of the Chicago Board of Education, she represents 316,000 students across the district.
At 17, she has been outspoken about the strengths and shortcomings of Chicago Public Schools. Halfway through her tenure, she has already witnessed a series of historic moments for the district — the transition to an elected school board, a bitter budget battle and the fallout from Operation Midway Blitz.
Singleton is also looking ahead to her next challenge. In the fall, she’ll enroll as a first-generation college student at Stanford University.
“It’s a really interesting difference, because one day, I feel made to be so official, and then I’m just a regular student,” Singleton said recently at the district offices. “I’m grateful for my school and my teachers.”
Singleton was selected in June from a pool of more than 100 CPS juniors and seniors. In her role, she attends meetings, hosts student roundtables and offers input on policy initiatives. While she can’t officially vote, she finds other ways to make her voice heard — often attending community events, like the one in Garfield Park.
She has a lengthy resume at Ogden: Singleton is the founder of the school’s blood drive; president of the National Art Honor Society; vice president of the National Honor Society and book club; and a student government representative. She’s also a volunteer tutor.
It’s a balancing act. “I do Google Calendar strategically,” she said with a laugh. “Everything has a date, everything has a color, everything has a time. … I live and die by my to-do list.”
Singleton lives in the West Loop with her parents, who work as a hairdresser and a driver. After first hearing about the honorary board member position last year, she began imagining the way she could change CPS.
“I was like, ‘No way this is real,” Singleton said. “Like, it was so cool for a student to be able to do this.”
Her primary focus has been on mental health. In December, she presented some of her recommendations to the board, urging CPS to better advertise its mental health resources and explore a districtwide mental health day.
Singleton’s efforts are driven by her own experience attending a selective enrollment high school with a rigorous International Baccalaureate course load. All CPS students have access to free online therapy and counseling — but she said there needs to be a campus culture shift.
“Violence is on the rise, social media is everywhere and immense pressure students are under can have a lasting negative impact,” Singleton told the board. “When you interact with students, please show us love, kindness and empathy.”
She was met with applause. “I think that’s spot-on,” said school board President Sean Harden.
The honorary position is essential to keeping the board grounded in real-world impact, according to board member Debby Pope, District 2B. She said Singleton’s perspective helps district leaders understand the day-to-day issues facing students.
“If we’re just doing this from a spot in the basement on Madison Street, without hearing back from our community and the children that we are there to serve, then we’re operating in a vacuum,” Pope said.
While juggling a mountain of extracurriculars, Singleton was accepted to her dream school: Stanford. She applied to college through QuestBridge, a national nonprofit that connects high-achieving, low-income students to top universities.
She got her acceptance email during biology class. Afterward, she raced to find her English teacher, Kelsey Strait, and the pair opened her official welcome letter together.
“She was crying. And I just, like, couldn’t breathe,” Strait said. “It was really special. We went around telling everyone who was still at school.”
Strait has taught Singleton throughout all four years of high school. It was the first time in recent memory that an Ogden student was accepted to Stanford, she said. “It’s been really special to see her grow. I think her classmates look to her as a leader, in the academic setting. … She’s always prepared. She has ideas. She doesn’t mind sharing them.”
Singleton has never been to California — her first time on a plane was just last year. But as always, she has a plan: She hopes to study psychology, and later attend medical school to become a psychiatrist.
For now, though, her focus is on enjoying senior year.
Singleton collects vinyl records, and is a self-proclaimed foodie and a cinephile. “I watch a lot of movies. That’s, like, my entire personality,” she said. (Her favorite is “The Silence of the Lambs.”)
According to Singleton, most of her classmates aren’t aware of her role within the district. “I feel like we’re just normal teenagers,” she said. “We talk about the hottest new shows, and the assignment we have to do on Monday.”
Applications for the next honorary student board member are expected to open in spring. Singleton often thinks about the advice she’ll give her successor.
“I would say, speak when you’re scared,” she said. “That’s just so important to build character, and to know that what you’re fighting for is meaningful.”
And, of course, stay organized: “Get your Google Calendar, ASAP,” she laughed.
