Now this is the kind of story I love hearing. Chicago has its challenges like any other city, but these young men are well on their way. According to the Huffington Post, for a remarkable fourth consecutive year, all 167 seniors at Urban Prep Academies schools have been accepted at four-year colleges or universities this fall.
Students of the two Chicago public charter high schools — located in the city’s Englewood and University Village neighborhoods — gathered Thursday morning to celebrate the achievement of their schools, which some have dubbed “Hogwarts in the Hood” for their impressive, seemingly magical rates of success, CBS Chicago reports.
Still, Urban Prep’s founder and CEO Tim King says, “the only magic going on at Urban Prep is the magic that these guys put in with their hard work and dedication.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel was on hand at the Thursday celebration and said the network’s students were setting a fine example others should follow, the Chicago Defender reports.
“I want everyone in this city, I want everyone in this country to look up here,” Emanuel said.
The all-male preparatory charter school network was founded in 2006. At that time, only four percent of its freshman class at its flagship Englewood campus was reading at grade level at the start of the school year. By 2010, all 107 of its graduating seniors were headed for college or university programs.
Congrats to the staff and the young men.
