Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I apply?
- When are applications due?
- When can I expect a response to my application?
- Are there any prerequisites?
- Is the program open to female applicants?
- What do you look for in a strong applicant?
- How competitive is admission to the Fellows Program?
- How many Fellows are there?
- How do Fellows help our students?
- What are "Prides"?
- When does the fellowship year start and end?
- What does the average day of a fellow look like?
Benefits of the program for fellows
How do I apply?
Our application process is simple and easy to begin. The first step in applying is to fill out and submit the online form, which consists of your contact information, your resume, and personal statement. We place greatest emphasis on the personal statement, which should discuss how experiences throughout your life have given you a desire and ability to work as a mentor, leader, and tutor for young urban men. See "what do you look for in a strong applicant" for more information on the qualities we feel are important in a Fellow, and thus should be discussed in your essay.
After submitting the online form, send one letter of recommendation to the program director. Your letter of recommendation should come from a person who knows you well and can reflect on your suitability for this intensive service commitment. We prefer that letters be submitted by the recommender via email to jwertz@urbanprep.org with your name in the subject line. If the recommender insists on sending a paper copy, they should sign their name across the seal and mail it to Urban Prep Fellows Program, 420 N. Wabash Ave, Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611
All applications will be acknowledged within two weeks of receipt. Selected applicants will participate in the first round of interviews which will take place via telephone or videoconference with the program manager. After this first round interview, selected applicants will participate in a second phone interview with school staff and/or administrators. Applicants selected after the phone interviews will be invited to visit our offices in February and March for interviews. Final decisions will be announced by April 30.
When are applications due?
Applications to the Fellows Program are considered on a rolling basis so the earlier you submit your application, the greater consideration we will be able to give it. The deadline for applications is February 1, 2012. Applications received after February 1 will be considered only if space in the program remains available. If you plan on submitting an application after February 1, please contact the Program Director, Jake Wertz, directly via email at jwertz@urbanprep.org.
When can I expect a response to my application?
- Initial Response: Within two weeks of receipt of application
- First-Round Phone Interviews: Before February 28, 2012
- Second-Round Phone Conference Interviews: Before March 15, 2012
- Finalist Interviews (in Chicago): Before April 15, 2012
Are there any prerequisites?
The only prerequisite is that candidates must have graduated from a four-year university no earlier than 2011. We accept Fellows from a diverse array of colleges, majors, and personal backgrounds.
Is the program open to female applicants?
Yes. In fact, about half of current and previous Fellows have been female. Urban Prep is an equal-opportunity employer and we select fellows without consideration to gender, race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability.
What do you look for in a strong applicant?
We welcome applicants from diverse racial, gender, and socioeconomic backgrounds who have:
- A strong, demonstrated interest in education and empowerment for urban African-American boys
- A history of involvement in team or group activities (i.e. college athletics, a fraternity/sorority, and leadership in student organizations)
- A passion and commitment to teaching or mentoring youth (i.e. summer camp counseling and after-school tutoring)
- An understanding of the unique problems confronted by urban communities and urban teenagers
- A relentless work ethic and strong spirit of entrepreneurship
- Strong, effective verbal communication skills indicative of potential for teaching success
- An ability to live and work well with others despite stressful conditions and demanding responsibilities
How competitive is admission to the Fellows Program?
Each year, the Fellows Program receives far more applications than we have spots available. The short biographies of the six members of our inaugural Fellows class, available here, give some idea of the exceptional diversity, achievement, and ambition of successful Fellows Program applicants.
How many Fellows are there?
In the 2011-12 school year we have 24 Fellows serving at three campuses – six work with freshmen at each of our Bronzeville, Englewood, and West campuses, and another six work with the sophomores at Bronzeville. The program will be approximately the same size in 2012-13.
How do fellows help our students?
The program meets the school and students’ needs for a focused, structured mechanism for guiding students through the complex social, emotional, psychological and personal developments of the high school years. Teenage years are an awkward and challenging period for just about everyone; and especially so for the young men we serve, who often feel surrounded by violence, hopelessness, and poverty. Fellows are mentors and role models to their students, and this relationship empowers and emboldens students to make wise and thoughtful decisions to positively impact their future.
Educators and theorists have long understood the value of individual relationships between teachers and students. The one-on-one “tutorial” has been the hallmark of instruction at Oxford and Cambridge for centuries; establishment of a personal relationship between teacher and student underlies Jean Jacques Rousseau’s entire educational theory, encompassed in his classic work Emile: or, On Education; and today, exceptional high schools across the country utilize tutorials to bolster achievement on state reading and math exams. These tutorial relationships enable each student to have an educational experience tailored to meet his or her needs, skills, and ambitions in a way that generalized classroom education can never re-create, and thereby have the potential to improve every student’s academic achievement.
Through this mentoring/tutorial partnership, our students will gain direction, assistance, and counseling to help them through the struggles of their academic career. Furthermore, the fellows’ life skills course and counseling will equip students with the ideas, habits, and convictions necessary for succeeding in college and beyond.
When does the fellowship year start and end?
Orientation for Fellows begins on Monday, July 16, 2012. From July 16 until August 3, Fellows will undergo intensive orientation and training. For the remainder of August, Fellows will work with entering students in the Freshmen Summer Program in the mornings and receive continuous supplemental training in the afternoons. The regular academic year begins on the last Monday in August.
The fellowship ends on the last day of June, 2013.
What does the average day for a fellow look like?
Uncommon results require uncommon commitment, and part of that commitment is Time. A Fellows’ day typically begins by 7 AM and proceeds at frenetic pace until the last school-bell at 4 PM, only to be followed by extracurricular activities, grading, and phone calls to students and their parents.
On a typical day during the academic year, the bulk of Fellows' responsibilities fall in three categories. First, and most important, is time set aside for the Fellows to develop a flexible schedule for meeting with their students individually. Fellows accomplish this by sitting-in other courses alongside students who need special academic attention, or by pulling students out of class for disciplinary or personal conversations. Second, Fellows teach one 45-minute class period, the “Pride Course”, during 4th period. Lastly, each Fellow has one 45-minute class period reserved as a 'prep' period for teaching their class.
| Community | 8:00-8:30 | Morning assembly. Greet students, make casual conversation, conduct attendance and dress code checks. |
| 1st | 8:30-9:20 | Student meetings and tutorials |
| 2nd | 9:20-10:10 | Student meetings and tutorials |
| 3rd | 10:10-11:00 | Prep period for Pride Course |
| 4th | 11:00-11:50 | Teach Pride Course |
| 5th | 11:50-12:40 | Lunch with students |
| 6th | 12:40-1:30 | Personal lunch time |
| 7th | 1:30-2:20 | Sit in Freshmen math class to observe and assist students |
| 8th | 2:20-3:10 | Meetings with Dean of Students, Assistant Principal, and Personal Counselors |
| 9th | 3:10-4:00 | Student meetings and tutorials |
| After-school | 4:00-6:00 | Assist in coaching or leading a group, or organize and lead a Pride activity |
Organization
Urban Prep Academies is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that operates a growing network of all-boys public high schools in Chicago. The organization is comprised of three schools and a management team headquartered in downtown Chicago.
Mission
The mission of Urban Prep is to provide a comprehensive, high-quality college-preparatory education to young men that results in graduates succeeding in college.
Arcs
The Urban Prep approach to education is to encircle the student with four connecting arcs that provide a comprehensive educational experience.
- The Academic Arc promotes a rigorous college-prep curriculum that focuses on Reading, Writing, and Public Speaking.
- The Service Arc deepens students’ sense of responsibility by identifying community needs and completing volunteer programs to address those needs.
- The Activity Arc requires students to participate in two school-sponsored activities per year (sports teams, clubs, etc.) in order to more fully develop their confidence, interpersonal skills, leadership qualities and respect for others.
- The Professional/College Arc provides opportunities for students to spend time in a professional setting or on a college campus to increase their understanding of the wider world, reinforce character and leadership development, and serve as a means for students to gain valuable experience.
Core Values
The work of all persons at Urban Prep is characterized and animated by eight Core Values – Accountability, Exceptionality, Faith, Integrity, Relentlessness, Resilience, Selflessness, and Solidarity.
Creed
At the start of each morning, the student body, faculty, and staff gather in the gymnasium for “Community.” During Community, students with exceptional achievements made in the past day or week are recognized, general announcements are made, and the student body recites the school Creed – a statement of the students’ beliefs regarding their own potential and commitment to education.
The Urban Prep Creed
We believe.
We are the young men of Urban Prep.
We are college bound.
We are exceptional-not because we say it, but because we work hard at it.
We will not falter in the face of any obstacle placed before us.
We are dedicated, committed and focused.
We never succumb to mediocrity, uncertainty or fear.
We never fail because we never give up.
We make no excuses.
We choose to live honestly, nonviolently and honorably.
We respect ourselves and, in doing so, respect all people.
We have a future for which we are accountable.
We have a responsibility to our families, community and world.
We are our brothers' keepers.
We believe in ourselves.
We believe in each other.
We believe in Urban Prep.
WE BELIEVE.
Where will Fellows work?
Urban Prep Academies operates three high school campuses located in three distinct communities - Bronzeville, Englewood, and the Near West Side - which are predominately African-American, low-income areas on the South and West Sides of Chicago. All Fellows are assigned to work at one of these three locations.
What are the students like?
According to the University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research, only one in forty African-American male students in Chicago Public schools will complete college. At Urban Prep, we believe all of our graduates will. We know this will not be easy: the majority of our students enter high school reading severely below grade level, most qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch, and most come from single-parent households. But through their own hard work and the dedication and commitment of Urban Prep’s faculty and staff, Urban Prep students make progress that many cynics had previously deemed impossible.
Urban Prep views proper conduct and behavior in the school as the foundation of a students’ success. The code of conduct is enforced by the entire faculty and staff of the school, so that the disruptions commonplace in other urban schools - graffiti, tardiness, misbehavior in class–seldom occur inside Urban Prep. To complement and reinforce the code of conduct, each student wears a uniform of khakis, a blazer, and necktie each day.
Working with high-poverty urban youth is always rewarding but often frustrating. At Urban Prep, we work hard to cut down on the frustration by ensuring that all of our students, as they proclaim each morning in the Creed, are “dedicated, committed, and focused.” The students’ attendance rates, test scores, and on-track-to-graduate rate vastly exceed averages for neighboring Chicago Public Schools; many of them participate in pre-college summer programs at universities like Cornell, Northwestern, and Cambridge, and their accomplishments have been lauded by media outlets and public figures including President Obama, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Oprah Winfrey, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
In 2010 and 2011 100% of students in Urban Prep’s first two graduating classes were admitted to a four year colleges. Graduates have enrolled in a number of universities across the country, including Cornell, Georgetown, Northwestern, Morehouse, the University of Illinois, and the University of Virginia.
What are Prides?
What Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are to Harry Potter's Hogwarts, Prides are to Urban Prep. Each class is divided into six Prides of about 25 students - small groups led by the Urban Prep Fellows which bond together through study sessions, intramurals, community service, and other group activities. The Pride Program builds identity and community within the school, provides more individualized academic and social-emotional attention for each student, and motivates students to work hard through friendly competition.
Competition between the Prides is encouraged and promoted through Urban Prep’s Pride Scoring System. A student can win points for his Pride through exceptional academic, athletic, or extracurricular achievements. Conversely, Prides lose points when their students fail to meet Urban Prep's standards for academic success and behavior. Pride scoring and competition culminate with the annual year-end "Tropaia" ceremony, in which the highest-scoring Pride is awarded the "Pride Cup."
Benefits of the program for Fellows
How will fellows be compensated?
Fellows are provided with
- Living stipend of $800 per month
- Housing - each fellow has his/her own bedroom in an apartment shared with other fellows
- Transportation - an unlimited public transportation card.
- HMO health and dental coverage
What else does this fellowship experience provide?
The Urban Prep Fellows Program seeks to foster exceptionally talented leaders, skilled educators, and thoughtful citizens. Our program is ideal for a variety of individuals who wish to dedicate a year to service after college to one of our nation’s neediest populations while gaining skills, knowledge, and connections that can help them throughout a lifetime of involvement in civic affairs. This service year provides a time for personal growth and job skill development that will enhance the fellow’s marketability across a wide spectrum of graduate school and career options.
To buttress the development that the work experience alone provides, the fellowship incorporates an ongoing Professional Development series designed to enable fellows to connect with the ideas and organizations involved in urban youth development. Urban Prep’s connections with supporters and Board of Directors will enable fellows to engage with experts from a wide variety Chicago-area universities, businesses, and nonprofits to learn more about all issues facing urban life and development in America.
The experience also provides fellows with opportunities to gain broader insights into nonprofit operations, development, and philanthropy. Unlike the vast majority of schools in America (public or private), our schools operate as “campuses” connected to one nonprofit entity, Urban Prep Academies. Fellows interested in learning more about charter school policy, nonprofit management, and school development will have opportunities to work alongside the staff at Urban Prep Academies’ downtown office (we call it “International Headquarters,” or IHQ) on those organization-wide issues.
Fellows who wish to continue working with Urban Prep after their year of service will be invited to apply for full-time positions as they become available.