There are many students and staff in the school who have accomplished great things. One example of this is Dr. Mack for his Illinois Association of Concurrent Enrollment Programs 2022 Dual Credit Teacher of the Year award (ILACEP). He says it is the organization that oversees development of all the dual credit programs in Illinois. The award is a statewide award for Illinois teachers.This was given to Dr. Mack during October of 2022. The process to get this award is to be nominated by someone. Mrs. Fike, the Language Department Chair and also an English teacher, nominated Dr. Mack. He was very surprised when he got the award saying “I was very surprised and moved by this award. My family, several colleagues, the school administration, and the district administration came down to my classroom while I was teaching to present the award!” 

Another great accomplishment that has been fulfilled at WHS is the $10,000 grant that was given to the art department. This was given to the art department officially on April 14th, 2023. It was given to them because Popsicle (the brand) was partnering with the National Art Education Association to promote equity and inclusion for all students, especially those that attend Title 1 schools, through the arts. In November of 2022, Popsicle ran a contest called Stick With Art. Teachers entered the contest by submitting pictures of students’ work made from popsicle sticks to Instagram with the hashtag #stickwithartcontest. From these submissions, forty teachers were selected to receive $1000 for art materials for their schools. Mrs. Ossey, one of the art teachers at WHS, found out right before winter break that she had received $1000 for WHS. In order to move forward in the contest, she submitted a teacher essay about the needs and dreams of the visual arts department here at WHS. In late February, she was contacted by representatives for Popsicle that WHS was a recipient of $10,000. Only four schools of the initial 40 were chosen to receive the additional money. When she found out the art department had won the $10,000 she was over the moon because it means that the art department can continue to create and build more robust learning opportunities for students in the visual arts. The students were also really excited about the grant because they knew that it meant they could continue to build the art department in an effort to meet theirs, and others’ needs for creative learning development.

One last example of an achievement that was accomplished at WHS was that theater club went to theater fest. Theater fest is basically where schools go to watch each other’s shows and learn about theater. WHS went because Spamalot was nominated to perform. Everyone who went had a great time.