On December 18th, 2015, just as winter break began for CPS students, Benito Mendoza, a well known senior at Phoenix Military Academy, had his vehicle  stolen.

“I’ve been at school since 6:30a.m. I had a really long day and I was looking forward to leaving right after school. While I was walking outside the school I noticed my van wasn’t in the same place I parked it,” said Mendoza.

Mendoza owned a 2005 Chrysler Voyager minivan. His father gave him this vehicle as an award for getting good grades.  He parked right across the street from the PMA staff parking lot on Adams and Western.   

“At first, I thought it was my dad or friends pranking me, but comes to find out, my van was really stolen,” said Mendoza.

What could PMA do to prevent students’ cars getting stolen or damaged? Manage to create a private parking lot which could secure the cars from the start of formation to the end of the day (7:30a.m.-2:31p.m.). Another great solution would be to  allow students to park in the teacher’s parking lot.

PMA is cornered by Western and Campbell streets which is in the neighborhood of Rockwell. This is a really dangerous area that has a lot of robberies,, shootings, and killings that take place. Chicago Police Department surrounds the area as well as the Safe Passage workers but that’s not enough.