Urban Prep Featured in Chicago Magazine, Creates Facebook “Cause” Page

The April issue of Chicago Magazine has an article featuring high performing Charter Schools like Urban Prep.  The author, Dennis Rodkin, covers the Charter School landscape and the photographs by Katrina Wittkamp are terrific (especially the ones of our students!).  Please CLICK HERE to read an excerpt from the article.

Join the Cause!  Urban Prep has a presence on Facebook which will allow you to join our online community of supporters.  If you are a Facebook user, please JOIN THE URBAN PREP CAUSE BY CLICKING HERE.

Urban Prep Makes the Grade in Charter Schools Performance Report

The Chicago Public School’s Office of New Schools has recently released its Charter Schools Performance Report.  This document provides information on how well Charter Schools in Chicago are doing relative to traditional public schools and the district overall.  I’m thrilled to report that Urban Prep outperformed our comparison schools and/or earned a rating of High (the highest rating possible) in all categories.  Urban Prep’s daily attendance rate of 93% exceeds comparison schools average attendance rate of 66%. The transfer out rate at the comparison schools are three times the rate at Urban Prep.  And Urban Prep earned a rating of High on all school operation indictors (including Budgeting, Financial Practices, and Compliance). 

Our Students are UP to Great Things

Recently, we asked some of our students about their experiences at Urban Prep and videotaped their responses.  A few of these brief and insightful interviews can be seen BY CLICKING HERE.

Urban Prep Junior Quinton Davis was featured in the ChiTown Daily News for his work with the Chicago Freedom School (CFS).  CFS is a program designed to prepare high school students to implement change within their communities.  Several Urban Prep students participate in this program and they all have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Urban Prep Sophomore David Belt was a winner in the Museum of Science and Industry/Science Chicago's “Bust-a-Myth” Contest.  Based on the popular Discovery Channel show MythBusters, in which hosts test urban legends using the principles of the scientific method, Chicago area students were required to “bust” a myth by developing an experiment to test the hypothesis.   David busted a widely held myth about the Sears Tower and was lauded by the judges for his creativity, command of the scientific method and in-depth analysis.  As a prize for winning, David had the opportunity to see a taping of MythBusters and meet its cast.

A future in Science may await David Belt, but another group of Urban Prep students are proving their promise in the world of business.  The Urban Prep team of Matthew Williams (Sophomore), Trenton Tidwell (Freshman), and Arctwayne Stephens (Freshmen) successfully competed in the Chicago Urban League’s Young Investor/Entrepreneur Project Business Plan Competition.    The competition was part of a 20-week, after school entrepreneurship and equity markets investment training program sponsored by the Chicago Urban League.  These guys are sharp and I’d be willing to bet that some of us will be working for them one day.

While Community Activism, Science and Business occupy some of our students’ time, others are busy learning about Diplomacy and World Cultures.  Marquinn Gibson and Lawrence Hall (both Juniors) were selected to study in Africa at Ghana’s Kokrobitey Institute through the Urban Scholars Program.  The program is organized around a daily schedule of interdisciplinary workshops and lectures taught by University of Ghana professors, artisans, local professionals, musicians, storytellers and environmentalists.  In addition to work in the classroom, the students are immersed in Ghanaian culture and visit many Ghanaian sites including Kakum National Park, Aburi Botanical Gardens, Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and the slave forts and castles of Cape Coast.  They are in Ghana now and are reporting back to us regularly via email.  I’m most impressed by the fact that they raised the money themselves to pay for the trip—it looks like we have some future Urban Prep fundraisers on our hands. 

Urban Prep’s New Campus Update

We continue to plan and prepare for the opening of our second school, Urban Prep Academy for Young Men--East Garfield Park (UPEGP).   The school will open this August with a cohort of about 150 Freshmen in a temporary facility on the second floor in the Cather School building on Chicago’s west side.  UPEGP’s Principal and Assistant Principal, Tre Childress and Ron Bryant (respectively), have been working diligently to prepare for the launch of the new school.  This preparation has been rewarding all around as the UPEGP Team and the Englewood Campus team have been able to work together to improve upon practices and strategies which will strengthen both schools. 

Visit Urban Prep Where Seeing Is Believing

We will be hosting this year’s final Seeing Is Believing Days at Urban Prep on April 24 and May 15 starting at 8:15am.  These tours provide a great way for supporters of the school to see us in action.  Participants will start their day by watching Community (our morning assembly) then enjoy a brief presentation about the school followed by classroom visits and concluding with a period for Q & A.  For more details and to reserve your spot for one of the dates, please CLICK HERE or email bgilmore@urbanprep.org.

In Conclusion…

I know this email was incredibly long, but I had a lot to report (believe it or not, this is the EDITED short version!).  As you may know, once I start talking, it’s hard for me to stop.  The same applies to my writing—especially when the topic is Urban Prep.  Thanks for reading the e-mail and thanks for your interest in Urban Prep and our MythBusting, Business Plan Writing, Community Serving, Globetrotting, and all around AWESOME students!!!

We Believe (that warm weather will eventually come to Chicago this spring),

Tim

PS  Donations made to Urban Prep before June 30 will be matched 2 to 1!!  Please contribute today at https://www.urbanprep.org/support/donate/.  Thanks!