Fellows Program Details
Frequently Asked Questions
Application
How do I apply?
The first step in applying is to fill out and submit the online form. The form consists of your contact information and a place for you to upload your resume and personal statement. In your statement, you 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 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. Applicants selected after the first interview round will be invited to visit the school in late March or early April for interviews with Urban Prep administrators. Final decisions will take place by April 30.
When are applications due?
Applications must be submitted online no later than March 1, 2010. Applications submitted earlier receive priority consideration.
Are there any prerequisites?
The only prerequisite is that candidates must have graduated from a four-year university no earlier than 2009.
Is the program open to female applicants?
Yes. 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
The Fellows Program
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, August 2, 2010. After orientation and training, fellows will work with students in the summer program until regular classes start on the first Tuesday in September.
The fellowship ends on the last day of June, 2011.
What does the average day for a fellow look like?
| Community | 8:00-8:30 | Greet students, assemble, casual conversation, attendance |
| 1st | 8:30-9:20 | Meet with Individual Students, Phone Calls, Meetings |
| 2nd | 9:20-10:10 | Meet with Individual Students, Phone Calls, Meetings |
| 3rd | 10:10-11:00 | Meet with Individual Students, Phone Calls, Meetings |
| 4th | 11:00-11:50 | Lead Pride in Lunch |
| 6th | 11:50-12:40 | Break/Personal Time |
| 7th | 12:40-1:30 | Meet with Individual Students, Phone Calls, Meetings |
| 8th | 1:30-2:20 | Meet with Individual Students, Phone Calls, Meetings |
| 9th | 2:20-3:10 | Prep period for Pride Course |
| 10th (Pride) | 3:10-4:00 | Teach Pride Period Course |
| Extracurricular | 4:00-6:00 | Assist in coaching or leading a group. (Or organize and lead Pride activity) |
About Urban Prep
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.
History
Urban Prep Academies was founded in 2002 by Tim King and a group of African-American education, business, and civic leaders. In 2005, Urban Prep Academies received its first charter from the Chicago Board of Education, and a year later, opened its first school, Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men – Englewood Campus, the nation’s first all-boys Charter Public high school.
In its four years of operations, Urban Prep has already begun to see the tremendous results of the founders’ mission and faculty’s hard work – at the end of year 3, 79% of Urban Prep’s students were “on track to graduate,” more than double the neighborhood average.
Building on the success of the Englewood Campus, Urban Prep was approved by the Chicago Board of Education to open two more new campuses: Urban Prep Academy for Young Men – East Garfield Park opened in the fall of 2009 with a class of 125 freshmen; Urban Prep Academy for Young Men – South Shore Campus will open in the fall of 2010.
Remarkably for such a short history, Urban Prep has already become considerable national recognition and praise: CNN branded Urban Prep’s students “the little Obamas,” Oprah Winfrey proclaimed on the Oprah Show “I love the Urban Prep school,” and US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said to the Wall Street Journal “I am a big fan of Urban Prep,” and features photos of himself with UP students on his official WhiteHouse.gov biography.
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.
As an organization, Urban Prep takes these values very seriously; they can be seen printed on the walls of the hallways and in each classroom, and it is common for teachers and staff members to refer to them in discussing students' work.
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’ belief, potential, and commitment to their 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?
In the 2010-2011 school year, all fellows will work at Urban Prep Academy for Young Men – South Shore Campus. South Shore Campus is Urban Prep’s newest school, and will open its doors to its first freshman class in 2010. South Shore is a predominately African-American, low-income community, located about three miles south of the University of Chicago, on the city’s South Side.
What is the school like?
Urban Prep Academy for Young Men – South Shore Campus will open in the fall of 2010 with a class of 125 freshmen. In each subsequent year, a grade will be added until we have a total of 500 students in grades 9-12. This will be Urban Prep’s third new school “launch” in the past four years, so our staff is well trained at replicating the unique, positive school culture that our established campuses are known for. This situation mixes the excitement of a “start-up” with the tried and trusted practices of an established organization.
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, ACT scores, and on-track-to-graduate rate vastly exceed averages for 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.
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 20 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 “Tropoia” 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 will have his/her own apartment or bedroom in an apartment shared with other fellows)
- Transportation (the fellows will have access to school-owned cars or be reimbursed for public transportation expenses for commuting and personal use)
- 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 a monthly seminar 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.
