The Urban Prep Fellows Program

The Urban Prep Fellows Program is a one year service opportunity for recent college graduates interested in working with urban youth at a nationally-renowned all-boys charter public high school.

Fellows are recent graduates who work with students in small groups called "Prides" (from our mascot, the Lion) to mentor, tutor, and lead students in their development and progression toward college readiness. The fellow teaches, but not in the traditional sense; rather than controlling a classroom and multiple classes of students, a fellow is focused on the total academic achievement of just twenty students - his or her "Pride."

The fellows' primary goal is to build bonds with their students that create opportunities for intellectual, social, and personal growth. We believe that these relationships are essential in meeting each student's individual academic and social-emotional needs. Time and again, our teachers and staff report that one of the most difficult aspects of their jobs is to understand the issues and challenges that face each of their students; the UP Fellow closes this crucial gap by taking a 360° view of each student's life, circumstances, and interests, and then using this knowledge to coordinate opportunities, programs and enrichment activities between the student, his teachers, the school community, and outside resources.

To complement and reinforce these one-on-one relationships, each fellow teaches a year-long, humanities-based "Life Skills" course to the Pride as a whole. This course uses literature, art, music, and film to explore themes important to young urban men, such as violence, poverty, and manhood. Fellows will work with veteran Urban Prep teachers to design lesson plans tying academic work with issues faced by their individual Pride members.

Rather than providing a narrow focus on "teaching," the fellowship will enable participants to develop the skills to connect, communicate, and lead across a broad array of scenarios and relationships involving students and urban public education. This arrangement connects what is best about the new teacher: his or her dedication, passion, and desire to make a difference in students' lives, with what is most urgently needed in our schools: knowledge and guidance of each student's social, emotional, and intellectual development.

The fellows program aims to provide an opportunity for growth and development for the fellows themselves as well. To buttress what the work experience alone provides, the fellowship incorporates a monthly seminar series designed to enable fellows to connect with the ideas and organizations involved in urban youth development. Urban Prep's network of advocates will enable fellows to engage with experts from a wide variety Chicago-area universities, businesses, and nonprofits to learn more about issues facing America's cities.

Fellows will be compensated with a monthly living stipend, full health and dental benefits, and provided with housing in the Hyde Park and/or Kenwood communities. Hyde Park and Kenwood are racially and socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods that serve as home to the University of Chicago and Obama family, as well as hubs of culture, entertainment, shopping and dining on Chicago's South Side. Each fellow will have his or her own bedroom.