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Posts tagged as “Urban Prep Academy”

Urban Prep Academy in Chicago Celebrates 100 Percent College Acceptance Rate for 7th Year in a Row

By goodblacknews on June 15, 2016
Urban Prep Academy 2016 Graduates (photo via nbcchicago screenshot)
Urban Prep Academy 2016 Graduates (photo via nbcchicago screenshot)

article by Katie Kim via nbcchicago.com

The families of Urban Prep Academy‘s 2016 graduating class shared a proud moment at the school’s commencement on Saturday. But this ceremony had a special meaning, as school administrators say all 252 graduating seniors have been accepted into a four-year college or university.

“I’m so excited. I’m going to get emotional,” said proud mom Ebony Muhammad.

The graduating seniors are all African-American males from the charter school’s Englewood, West, and Bronzeville campuses. The class of 2016 is carrying on a tradition, as every single Urban Prep graduate since 2010 has been accepted into four-year colleges and universities.

“It’s like a dream come true. I’ve been waiting on this a long time,” one student said.

Graduating senior Rudolph Long said he’s the first in his family to not only graduate high school, but to go on to college. And the young man from Auburn Gresham is doing so on a full-ride scholarship.  “I don’t think it’ll ever sink in. It hasn’t, but it just means that I’m changing the narrative for people not only from my family, but for African-Americans as a whole,” Long said.

Juwaun Cooper-Muhammad is going to Georgetown University in the fall.  “Urban Prep was the best thing that ever happened to me, along with my mother,” Cooper-Muhammad said. “We’re breaking barriers and this is a moment that I’m going to remember for the rest of my life.”

No one is more proud of Juwaun than his mother.  “I was a teen mom and it makes me know that we can jump over these hurdles,” Ebony Muhammad said, choking back tears. “These obstacles that were in our way, we were able to do it.”

To add to the joy of the celebration, the seniors were awarded more than $11 million combined in scholarships to help pay for their tuition.

And these students say that this milestone is just the beginning.

“I just want to give back to whole city really, for making me who I am today,” Long added.

Source: Chicago High School Celebrates 100 Percent College Acceptance Rate | NBC Chicago http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Chicago-High-School-Celebrates-100-Percent-College-Acceptance-Rate-381905451.html#ixzz4Bf0oWiuc

For the 5th Year in a Row, Chicago's Urban Prep Academy Students Achieve 100 Percent College Acceptance

By goodblacknews on April 10, 2014

urban-prep-chicago-660

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
 

100 Percent of Urban Prep Academy Seniors College Bound for 4th Year in a Row

By goodblacknews on April 2, 2013
Urban Prep SeniorsUrban Prep Academy is continuing its record of success.  For the last three years, all graduating seniors from the charter school’s Englewood campus have been college bound. This year, the inaugural graduating class of the West Campus has  accomplished the same goal.  In all, 167 seniors, all African-American males, have been accepted to a four-year college or university.

“What this 100 percent proves beyond a doubt is that it need not be the exception but it should be the expectation for every child in the city of Chicago,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at a ceremony where the final students exchanged their red uniform neckties with the red-and-gold striped ones that signify their college-bound status.

Urban Prep founder Tim King said he was exceedingly proud of the young men.  “It’s really heartwarming. It’s really an inspiration,” said Tim King. “These guys are an inspiration to all of us because they show you what can happen when you really work hard and do the right thing. I feel great. There are no words to describe how powerful and wonderful it is to be a part of Urban Prep.”

Urban Prep Academy Graduates All College-Bound For Third Consecutive Year

By goodblacknews on March 30, 2012
Urbanprepgraduates

Urban Prep students at graduation.

For the third year running, an all-male charter school with students from Chicago’s roughest neighborhoods is sending its entire senior class to college.  Urban Prep Academy reports that all 85 seniors graduating from the all-male preparatory school have been accepted to four-year colleges or universities, the third consecutive year an entire senior class has gotten acceptance letters along with their diplomas.
This year’s class also has some standout stars, like Vernon Cheeks, 17, who was accepted to 14 schools, according to CBS Chicago.  “It taught me how to be resilient. It also taught me how to be accountable for my own actions,” he told the station of his experience in the standout high school program.
Urban Prep’s success is unusual in its West Side neighborhood, which sees disproportionately high rates of violent crime so severe that parents requested heightened protection for academy students earlier this year, amid concerns that gang territories were advancing on the school.
“[In] this volatile, violent area, these are like lambs surrounded by wolves, and that shouldn’t be,” the grandmother of a student told ABC Chicago.
The school’s success has grown exponentially since its founding in 2006, when onlyfour percent of the school’s first freshman class was reading at grade level when they entered.
In 2010, the school sent all 107 graduating seniors directly into college or university programs for the first time.
“No other public [school] in the country has done this,” Urban Prep Academy Founder Tim King said at the time. Continuing that success in 2011 and 2012 makes the school’s performance even more remarkable.
The school also boasts an impressive “persistence” record this year–83 percent of 2010 Urban Prep graduates who went on to college have stayed there, compared to a national average of 35 percent among African-American males, according to the Chicago Tribune.