“The circle closes”: The proverbial “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure” finds a home in the new vocational school in Niles
A truckload of bicycles was donated to Walsh Academy in Niles, which plans to add a bicycle repair program to its technical training offerings.
A recent “aha” moment for Charlie Walsh Jr. of Walsh Partners in Elmhurst was when he dropped off a truckload of abandoned bicycles at the Charles H. Walsh Sr. Academy & Career Tech High School in Niles. The bikes were left behind by former residents of his Elmhurst apartment complex.
The school, known as Walsh Academy for short, is named after Walsh’s father, Charles H. Walsh, Sr., and opened in Niles after Thanksgiving last year. Walsh, Jr. was present at the groundbreaking in November 2022 and the grand opening in December of last year.
Walsh Academy is the first school in Illinois, and perhaps the nation, to prepare students with learning disabilities for in-demand, well-paying trades jobs or college. The new facility offers 12 classrooms and eight vocational classes. In addition to high school education, students have access to a state-of-the-art culinary lab, an on-site media studio, an engineering lab, rooms for carpentry, construction, HVAC and small engines, a new garden and a greenhouse.
Bicycle repair will also be part of professional training in the future.
“When I found the abandoned bikes, I immediately thought of Walsh Academy,” said Walsh Jr. “It was an aha moment for me, and given what I saw when the school opened, students have a great opportunity to learn how to repair bikes. There’s a lot to repair,” he added.
“What makes me even more excited about this donation is that it brings back a fond memory of a story my dad told when he was a kid in Maryville,” said Walsh Jr. “It turns out my dad and his brother Leo were the only two kids in Maryville who had a bike. Because of that, his entrepreneurial spirit started at a young age, in his late 30s and early 40s, when he would charge pennies from his classmates and other kids at school to ride his bike ‘around the schoolyard.’ So I thought, what a fitting tribute to this incredible story in memory of my dad. I guess life comes full circle sometimes.”
Ann Craig, principal of Walsh Academy, thanked Walsh Jr. for thinking of the students and donating the bikes.
“What a great opportunity for our students,” said Craig. “I can’t wait to see our students take these bikes apart, develop an understanding and apply the knowledge they have gained in real life.”
The school operated as Jen School for 16 years, changing its name, location and curriculum in 2023. It has also received the National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) School of Excellence Award ten times.
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