--The Bulls took a new step in community relations this fall with the opening of Chicago Bulls College Prep, a charter high school located a few blocks from the United Center. With 229 freshmen enrolled this year, the school is expected to house around 600 students once it has four full classes in the 2012-13 school year. The school is part of the Chicago Public School system, but is run independently. There is no tuition required to attend. The stated goal of the student body is to graduate from college.
"When I was growing up, if you got through high school, that was considered a big achievement. That's not good enough anymore," Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said. "You've got to go to college if you want to get the good jobs. In a bad economy, education is even more important."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I hope they want to play with me because of my game, not because I came up to them and said, 'Yeah, come play with me.' I would love to play with some of the players that are coming up on that free-agent list. But it will be up to them. They'll have to make their own decisions and hopefully they'll consider the Bulls." -- G Derrick Rose, on whether he'll be able to help lure a top-notch free agent to the Bulls in 2010. The Bulls will have cap room next year and none of the potential free agents had signed an extension as of mid-September.