W E D N E S D A Y
August 22, 2018 Vol. 39, No. 4 ONE DOLLAR
@oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL
OPRF footb football on the upswing Sports, page 44
of Oak Park and River Forest
Steve James joins the Conversation By DAN HALEY
T
Publisher
he talk of our villages as the school year starts up is America to Me, the compelling and complex 10-part documentary on Oak Park and River Forest High School produced and directed by Steve James, a longtime Oak Parker and creator of such noted documentaries as Hoop Dreams and The Interrupters. The documentary was previewed last week to a large crowd at the Lake Theater. And this coming Sunday, episode one will debut on the Starz cable channel. Today, though, the Journal is announcing that Steve James will be our guest for the latest in our Wednesday Journal Conversations series. This event, done in partnership, as always, with Dominican University, will be on Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. Once again, Charlie Meyerson of Chicago Public Square will be our moderator. This will be a fascinating conversation about how America to Me came to be, how James convinced the school board to grant him almost unfettered access to the school for a full year, how he chose the dozen students who STEVE JAMES are at the heart of this documentary, Filmmaker how he sees the complex issues of race and equity at our high school. We’ll also be asking ticket holders to send us their questions for Steve James. Get your tickets now. We’ve priced them a bit lower than in the past to make sure that families can join in. General admission is $15. Students are $5. And Journal subscribers get a $5 discount, because each of you is very special to us. This is a great opportunity to be part of Oak Park and River Forest’s most important topic just as we step into a national spotlight on education, race and equity. We’d also ask you to consider it an added opportunity to stand in support of your independent neighborhood newspaper and to help us fund the community journalism we have been doing since 1980. We need your support. Purchase your tickets at oakpark.com/conversations. And we’ll look for you on Sept. 11.
Submitted photo
SPEEDO NINJA: Siblings Nikkilette and Ashley Wright pose with brother Mike Wright after he competed in Las Vegas for the finals in “American Ninja Warriors.” Watch how Mike did at 7 p.m. on NBC, Aug. 27.
A family of ninjas
Siblings compete on ‘American Ninja Warrior’ By NONA TEPPER Staff Reporter
Ten feet. Twelve feet. All the way to the ceiling of Tri-Star Gymnastics is how high the Wright kids would stack mats, competing to see who was brave enough to jump and flip from the highest point. With their mom as owner of the gym in Forest Park, the Wrights grew up flipping and flopping at Tri-Star.
Now as adults, they are looking to their upbringing for an edge in American Ninja Warrior, a TV show that features competitors from across the country attempting to complete an obstacle course that comprises sliding steps, shaking giant balls, rings of different shapes and much, much more. Competitors aim to advance to the national finals on the Las Vegas Strip and become an “American Ninja Warrior.” After 10 seasons, and 142 episodes, only two competitors have so far ever successfully completed the obstacle course, winning the $1 million grand prize. This season, brother and sister Nik-
kilette and Mike Wright both competed on the show, with Nikkilette in Los Angeles and Mike in Indianapolis, participating for the second time. Nikkilette fell in the first round, while Mike advanced to Las Vegas. Watch him compete at 7 p.m. on NBC on Aug. 27. “I’m definitely really proud of them; they’re really nice kids and that’s what you as a parent hope for,” said Kristina Wright, longtime varsity gymnastics coach at Oak Park and River Forest High School. “They’re taking these journeys and personal See WRIGHT on page 13