It’s raining Black excellence at Southland College Prep Charter High School!
For the 11th year in the row, its senior class, which is predominantly Black, have all been accepted to college, Black News reports. In fact, $50 million in merit and need-based scholarships have already been offered to students, with that number expected to exceed $60 million.
“And the amount of money rises each year,” senior Lundyn Williams told CBS News.
Dr. Blondean Y. Davis, Southland’s CEO and superintendent of Matteson School District 162, told Black News:
“Our students faced unprecedented challenges, and they addressed every one of them and more than met them.”
Davis adds when she founded the Chicago, IL, area school in 2010, she was told by others that “students from our area would not be able to access the Ivy League or top schools in the country.”
Clearly, she has proven doubters wrong.
“I have been accepted to 43 different schools and applied to 51,” Williams mentioned, according to CBS News.
Davis shared, per Black News, “This is what happens when what seemed impossible becomes a reality and a vision is realized. This is what happens when a community’s dreams for their children are achieved.”
Offers have been pouring in from schools including the University of Chicago, University of California-Berkeley, University of Southern California, Stanford, Northwestern, Columbia University, Vanderbilt, University of Michigan, Barnard College, Wellesley College, and top Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) such as Howard University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, Xavier University of Louisiana, and Hampton University, among others.
“These college admissions and the financial aid and scholarships these students have worked hard for and earned represent hope for the future of not just these students and their families, but for our communities in the south suburbs,” Robert Lane, Southland’s director of college admissions, said according to Black News.
Congrats to the 2024 graduation class at Southland College Prep Charter High School for raising the bar!
