It’s that time of year where high school and college students alike are celebrating their academic accomplishments and preparing themselves for the next big challenge in life. But unlike most kids who celebrate their high school and college graduations years apart, Florida teen Grace Bush is celebrating both academic achievements in the same week.
At just 16, Bush already earned her Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice from Florida Atlantic University last Friday and plans to receive her high school diploma from Florida Atlantic University High School on May 9th. Attending a high school that allows high achieving students to also take college courses while working on their diploma, Bush took full advantage of the opportunity.
“I started when I was 13 at Broward College and I also took my classes throughout the summer, so I was able to finish it before four years,” Grace tells CBS Miami.
Now with a bachelor’s degree under her belt and a high school diploma on the way, Grace, who finished college with a 3.8 grade point average, plans to pursue a master’s degree this fall and then attend law school.
“I would eventually like to become Chief Justice of the United States,” says the high achieving scholar on her future career goals.
article by Courtney Connley via blackenterprise.com
Posts published in “Teens”
For the first time ever, McDonald’s is looking to the public to help them decide who should be the lucky recipient of their Community Choice Youth Award and be honored during the 11th annual 365Black Awards.
The chosen winners, one female and one male, will receive a $10,000 scholarship along with recognition at the star-studded event that takes place Saturday, July 5th in New Orleans during the ESSENCE Festival.
Know an exceptional teen between the ages of 13 and 18? Nominate them for this prestigious award by visiting 365black.com, filling out a nomination form, answering three questions about the nominee and submitting a three-minute video highlighting the teens contributions to the community. The deadline to submit is Saturday, May 31.
article by Courtney Connley via blackenterprise.com
First Lady Michelle Obama wants every American student to expand their education beyond just a high school degree and she’s using social media to encourage kids to do just that.
In an effort to move the country in the right direction toward reaching President Obama’s “North Star” goal, which outlines America as having the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020, FLOTUS is asking people to show support for her Reach Higher initiative by taking a picture of themselves in their college T-shirt and posting it on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter using the hashtag #ReachHigher. The new initiative encourages students to attend a professional training program, community college, or four-year university after high school and she’s hoping that through social media she can make the program a trending topic.
Already, a couple of major cities around the country are showing their support for the initiative and celebrating students commitment to higher education. On May 2nd, FLOTUS traveled to San Antonio to attend the city’s annual “College Signing Day.” At the event, First Lady Obama elaborated on the importance of high school students continuing their education saying, “While it’s good news that high school graduation rates have climbed to their highest levels ever in this country, we know that in today’s world, a high school degree simply isn’t enough.”
Watch the video below of FLOTUS talking about the new #ReachHigher social media campaign and be sure to show your support for the initiative.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgIdi9T3kTU&w=560&h=315]
article by Courtney Connley via blackenterprise.com
For the fifth year in a row, Chicago’s Urban Prep Academy has again achieved a 100 percent acceptance rate for its 2014 class. This year, 240 students were accepted into four-year colleges and universities. “I got into a lot of different schools but right now I’m thinking about four different choices,” student Keshawn Cathery said.
“I got into Georgetown University which I will be attending in the fall,” student Derrick Little said.
As part of an Urban Prep ritual, when seniors are admitted into college, they exchange their red uniform ties for a red and gold striped tie, a symbol of how hard they’ve worked. “The tie represents to me moving on from a boy to becoming a young man and actually doing something with my life,” graduating senior Dumar Harris said.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel gave the students a pep talk Tuesday, and NBA star Dwyane Wade donated $10,000 through his foundation to offset the cost of the student prom.
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But while students, staff and parents are celebrating the Class of 2014’s achievements, critics say the students in danger of not graduating never even make it to senior year.
“Urban Prep is not for everyone, and those students may leave us,” school founder and CEO Tim King, said. “But the fact that some students choose to leave us should not be used as a weapon against the students who have chosen to stay and have achieved this incredible accomplishment.”
Just ask Urban Prep alumni. The 2010 class the first to graduate from the school in 2010, and now they’re about to graduate from college. “Being the first graduating class you see a lot of progression, you see a lot of downfall, but everything comes just together. If you keep striving for that one goal, no one can tell you no,” Urban Prep alumnus Paris Williams said.
To see video of this continually wonderful story, click here.
article by LeeAnn Trotter via nbcchicago.com
When most people see 17-year-old Akintunde Ahmad, they find it hard to believe he has earned a 5.0 GPA, a 2100 SAT score and acceptance into almost every Ivy League school in the nation. This is because Ahmad, who describes himself as a “street dude,” admits that he is often judged by his 6-foot-1 frame and waist-long dreads. In fact, the Oakland teen has been underestimated by his peers to the point where only cellphone images of his grades and test scores provide the most viable proof.
According to ABC, Ahmad — who attends Oakland Tech High in northern California — has been accepted into a number of prestigious schools including Yale, Brown, Columbia, Northwestern, the University of Southern California, UCLA and Howard, among others.
Aside from his exceptional academic record, Ahmad also plays three instruments and is a star athlete on his school’s baseball team. So much so, that he has even been approached by Yale about joining the university’s team. “Every school he applied to is already Division 1, so he wasn’t taking a step down as far as baseball is concerned,” baseball coach Bryan Bassette told ABC.
Towson University Debate Team members Ameena Ruffin ‘15 and Korey Johnson ’16 made history at the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) National Championship in late March.
“Ruffin and Johnson are the first African-American women’s team to win a national tournament,” said Mike Davis, president of the Cross Examination Debate Association. In a sense, it’s a double record. “No [individual] African-American woman has ever won our tournament before,” Davis confirmed.
The Towson team beat Oklahoma in the final round to claim the national title. The competition featured teams from elite schools including Harvard, Trinity, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, Wayne State, Cal State Fullerton, Florida, Bard College, Pepperdine, Sacramento State, Vanderbilt, NYU and others.
Ruffin and Johnson also earned a first-round bid to the 2014 National Debate Tournament, an invitation-only national championship for collegiate policy debate in the United States. The distinction designated them as one of the top 16 teams in the country.
“We are thrilled and very proud of Ameena and Korey on this amazing accomplishment,” said Towson Universeity College of Fine Arts and Communication Dean Susan Picinich. “Their historic success is exemplified by their passion, dedication and commitment to the art of debate, and the leadership of Towson University’s debate coaching staff, Amber Kelsie and Ignacio Evans.”
Three days ago, Good Black News shared an article about Washington D.C. wunderkind Avery Coffey, who was accepted to five Ivy League colleges. Today, 17-year-old New Yorker, violist and aspiring physician Kwasi Enin went one better – make that three better – and earned acceptance to all EIGHT Ivys!
According to usatoday.com, the acceptances began rolling in over the past few months, and by late last week when he opened an e-mail from Harvard, Enin found he’d been accepted to every one. School district officials provided scanned copies of acceptance letters from all eight on Monday. Yale confirmed that it was holding a spot for Enin.
The feat is extremely rare, say college counselors — few students even apply to all eight, because each seeks different qualities in their freshman class. Almost none are invited to attend them all. The Ivy League colleges are among the nation’s most elite.
“My heart skipped a beat when he told me he was applying to all eight,” says Nancy Winkler, a guidance counselor at William Floyd High School, where Enin attends class. In 29 years as a counselor, she says, she’s never seen anything like this. “It’s a big deal when we have students apply to one or two Ivies. To get into one or two is huge. It was extraordinary.”
For most of the eight schools, acceptance comes rarely, even among the USA’s top students. At the top end, Cornell University admitted only 14% of applicants. Harvard accepted just 5.9%.
WASHINGTON – This is the college acceptance season — frequently a nervous time for high school seniors. But D.C.’s Avery Coffey can relax. He applied to five Ivy League universities and all five accepted him.
Coffey attends Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, a D.C. public school with strict rules. None of the 439 students at Banneker is allowed to bring a cell phone into the building. They are also not allowed to go to their lockers during the school day. (That has spawned the peculiar tradition of piling up textbooks at the base of lockers, so kids can switch books between classes without violating the locker rule.)
The strict rules at Banneker have fostered a rather serious academic environment. Principal Anita Berger says year after year after year, 100 percent of Banneker graduates are accepted into post-secondary institutions. Among these brainy and motivated public school students is 17-year-old Coffey who, like a lot of kids, enjoys sports. What does he play?
“Baseball, basketball, tennis, soccer,” Coffey told us.
He also enjoys academics, and he has a 4.3 high school report card average, adjusted for the demanding International Baccalaureate courses he takes. Coffey scored very high on standardized tests also. He calls himself a “determined” student.
Coffey applied to five Ivy League universities, and, amazingly, has been accepted at all of them: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown. And four of the five universities have already offered very generous financial aid packages. (Harvard is still formulating its offer.)
It’s good to have options. And if you’re Chad Thomas, a senior at Booker T. Washington Senior High in Miami, you have a ton of options. Thomas, 18, has received 150 scholarship offers for his football skills and his abilities as a nine-instrument musician, 10 News Tampa Bay reports.
Thomas, who helped the Booker T. Tornadoes win back-to-back state championships and also a national title this season, told the news station that he has chosen to attend the University of Miami and will play football but will also work on his music at the university’s Frost School of Music.
It was Thomas’s late grandmother who inspired his love for music. As a young boy, he would listen to his grandmother’s gospel CDs. Then she bought him a guitar and signed him up for piano lessons. By the time he was 5, Thomas was performing, 10 News reports.
Thomas plays the piano, trombone, euphonium (a small tuba), bass guitar, regular guitar, snare, tuba, trumpet and drums, and he has no plans of abandoning music even if someday the NFL comes calling. “So if I make it to the NFL, that would be a blessing for me,” said Thomas. But his love for music remains a passion. “I have love for music and took it upon myself to learn and play the instruments I hear in the songs.”
And if he had to choose between the NFL and music? “It would probably be music,” said Thomas.
Brainpower from America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) will be on display at the 25th annual Honda Campus All-Star Challenge (HCASC) National Championship Tournament. Hundreds of HBCU students have spent the past year diligently preparing to compete in the final round of this unique academic tournament, April 12-16, 2014, on the campus of American Honda Motor Co., Inc., in Torrance, California.
This year’s road to the championship began in the fall of 2013, with 76 HBCUs vying for the final 48 slots. Through countless hours of study, drills and practice, elite teams emerged, knowledgeable and ready to take on the competition. Their goal is to beat Morgan State University, the reigning national champions with two consecutive titles, while Morgan State will be seeking a threepeat.
The competitors will be split into eight divisions and will compete in a modified round-robin format. The top two teams from each division will advance to the “Sweet 16” and will compete in a single elimination playoff. The final two teams that emerge from the playoffs will compete for the title of National Champions and the grand prize of $50,000. The grand prize, along with the other institutional grants, will support academic activities at the participating HBCUs.