Q&A with Whitney Young basketball transfers

Q: How do you like Stevenson?

Rodney: We love Stevenson. The people are nice – it’s very welcoming
Willie: There’s a great energy in the school. It’s very lively, the people here are nice, the teachers here are great – it’s a great feel.
Rodney: (laughs) And the food is good here.
Sam: It’s extremely large. But I love the teachers, the students – I love the environment…and the lunch food.
RH: I think the only bad thing is the passing periods. Eight minutes isn’t enough.

Q: Do you guys travel to classes?

RH: Yeah, we’re all travelers.
SH: (laughs) I’m always late.

Q: What’s the biggest difference between Stevenson and Whitney Young?

RH: Well, it’s a lot bigger.
WH: And the atmosphere.
RH: Yeah, it’s definitely more alive. There’s a lot more going on.
SH: It’s more college-like.
WH: People here actually go out to watch the games. The football games are packed, the basketball games are packed, even the volleyball games are packed. Kids here actually go out and support each other whereas at Whitney, students rarely went out to the games.

Q: Not even at the basketball games?

WH: Yeah, not even then.

Q: What had you heard about Stevenson before coming here? What were you expecting?

SH: What I heard about Stevenson was that it was the number two public school in the nation and number one public school in state. So I bragged a lot on that to people. (laughs)
RH: Yeah. Academics come number one, so we definitely knew about that and wanted to come here for that.
SH: Plus, number one in the state for basketball.
RH: Yeah, plus they were the state champions for football and basketball. And we love sports so that’s a plus as well. And we heard about how good the teachers are here. I have a couple classes where I have two teachers in one classroom, so that’s different.

Q: You mentioned the other day you’ve been doing some pre-season basketball conditioning. What’s that been like?

RH: We have conditioning practices at 6:30 a.m., at least four times a week. Then after school we’ll have open gym where we just run, play games, put up shots – stuff like that.
WH: And then we play in the Stevenson fall league at the Libertyville Sports Complex every Sunday. So we get to play in real games and get our chemistry together as a team.
SH: And Willie hit the game-winning buzzer beater.
WH: Last Sunday we played St. Viator; it was a close game. It was 58-58 with three seconds left. I hit the buzzer beater from the right corner to help us win the game. So we’re undefeated right now in fall league.

Q: I like how you guys noticed how awesome the Patriot student section is. Have you come out to some of the football games this season?

RH: Yeah, we haven’t missed a single game.

Q: It’s cool that you guys are so involved here. Do any of you plan on joining any clubs or activities this year besides basketball?

WH: Well, I kind of wanted to join a club but basketball and school are big commitments – it’s hard.
RH: Yeah, it’s hard to try to fit that into our schedules. But I was thinking about doing track in the spring, maybe try something new. And Sam’s going to do track, too.
WH: Yeah, he’ll do track.
SH: We’re all so excited for a great year at Stevenson.