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North Lawndale College
Preparatory
1615 S. Christiana
Chicago, IL 60623
Phone: 773.542.1490
A phoenix rising from the ashes; an appropriate mascot for a school located in a neighborhood that still bears the scars of Chicago’s West Side burning after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 34 years ago.
Industries that served as the community’s economic resource have left the area over the past 30 years. Only the shell of a once thriving neighborhood is left. “People aren’t going to invest in an area if there is no quality college prep school. So, the phoenix is a symbol of the neighborhood coming together rising from the ashes,” said dean of students, John Horan.
The goal for North Lawndale College Preparatory (NLCP) students is to be accepted into college and become successful college graduates. “For our kids, they are the first ones in the family to go to college. We send them care packages; there are weekly phone calls. You have to do this if you’re serious about the kids graduating successfully,” Horan said.
NLCP has six counselors that maintain their role with students into the students’ first year of college. They serve as problem solvers to iron out glitches with financial aid, adjustment to college life and anything else with which the student or their family may need help.
Students are academically behind when they arrive at NLCP. However, after four years, not only are they brought up to speed, they surpass expectations. “When you come in so behind, it takes more than a year to fix,” Horan said.
Freshman students go to summer wilderness camp in Colorado. The goals at camp are aimed to develop leadership skills. “This stretches them mentally and physically,” said NLCP counselor, Paul Fagen. “We get the kids to think, ‘I’m important, I matter and I think I can really do college now.’ It’s like Plato’s cave; they didn’t have the lenses to see anything else outside their world before. It’s hard for them to come back from camp.”
Sophomores and juniors participate in summer internship programs at universities to prepare themselves and their families for college. “[The kids] come back and they really get what it takes,” Horan added. "They discover that they can keep up with these kids from other schools in the same programs.”
NLCP graduated its first senior class in June 2002. Of the 55 graduates, 48 were accepted into college, three are in the military and only one has come home from college.
SCHOOL STATISTICS |
Opened: 1997
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Success Stories
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