100% OF SUCCESS ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES TO ATTEND 4-YEAR COLLEGES FOR SIXTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Ann Powell, 646-894-6407
Ann.Powell@successacademies.
Maria Amante, 332-222-6642
maria.amante@successacademies.
100% OF SUCCESS ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES TO ATTEND 4-YEAR COLLEGES FOR SIXTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR
72% headed to selective or highly selective institutions
96% with acceptance offers meeting full financial need
New York, NY, June 8, 2023 — At a time when Black and Hispanic college enrollment has declined to historic lows, and socioeconomic gaps have darkened the futures of so many low-income children of color, Success Academy High School of the Liberal Arts’ graduating class has defied the odds. Yesterday, in a joyful Commencement ceremony at Madison Square Garden, the 120 graduates, their families, and hundreds of educators — many of whom had taught them over their 13-year journey — celebrated their record-breaking achievements.
For the sixth consecutive year, 100% of Success Academy’s graduating class have been accepted to a four-year college or university, with 72% of them headed to selective or highly selective institutions, including Harvard, Brown, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Howard, Wesleyan, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, and Duke. Importantly for their economic reality, 96% of the class received at least one acceptance offer that met their full financial need — 82% are from low-income families and 97% are Black or Hispanic. More than two-thirds of the class are the first in their families to attend college.
Commencement speaker Vladimir Duthiers addressed the class, drawing from his own experience of moving from a career in finance to becoming a journalist. “Be a lifelong learner and through the work you do, and the things you achieve, you will accomplish great things,” he said. The featured host of CBS Mornings, added: “If you keep the beginner’s mind along your journey, wonderful things are waiting for you.”
Almost half of the class has explicitly committed to STEM majors, in fields underrepresented by people of color, and 70% say they have strong interests in pursuing STEM careers long-term. Success Academy has set a goal for 60% of graduates to major in science, math or engineering.
“We love poetry and history,” said Eva Moskowitz, Founder and CEO of Success Academy. “But the STEM fields are rigorous disciplines with enormous economic opportunities that are also among the least diverse.
“This class has put in the effort to realize their dreams, whether conquering AP Biology and Calculus, mastering the saxophone, or writing code,” said Moskowitz, who had two of her own children graduate from Success Academy. “Incredibly well prepared to excel in college, they are confident, sophisticated thinkers and hard workers. I can’t wait to see what they will do next.”
Most of the graduating seniors entered Success Academy in 2010 as kindergarteners and first graders at one of the nine Success Academy schools in Harlem, Bronx, and Brooklyn that were open at the time. Today, Success operates almost 50 schools, enrolling 20,000 students.
The Class of 2027 — so named because that is the year they expect to graduate from college — has pursued their ambitions with exceptional zeal, and Success Academy has supported them along every step of their 13-year journey:
- As 8th graders 95% passed the state ELA exams in 2019, and 100% passed the Algebra I Regents, with 75% getting the highest possible score.
- During their four years of high school, the class took a total of 356 Advanced Placement courses, with 71% passing at least one exam by their junior year. (Results for the most recent administration of AP exams are not yet available.)
- 13 qualified to participate in Success Academy’s dual-enrollment programs with Columbia and Hunter, taking courses in Calculus I, Calculus II, Introduction to Computer Science and Entrepreneurship.
- 36 participated in one of the 30 summer college programs that SA also provides — opportunities that are provided at no cost to students, and which are beyond the means of most families whose children attend SA.
The Class of 2027 also distinguished themselves in the arts, chess, debate, and sports. Geah Jean Baptiste (Harvard) is ranked #26 in the country for girls ages 18 and a member of the Nationals Champion team for girls U18, Zahir Lara (Hunter) was selected as a New York Pops apprentice conductor, and Mamediarra Gadiaga (Rochester Institute of Technology) placed first in the state conference for DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America), in the Human Resource Management Series division. Muniratu Tawfiq (Williams) was a three-time All-American and Northeast track and field champion, and Brianna Edwards (Tufts) led the SA debate team to victory at the Harvard National Forensics Tournament this year.
Fast facts about the Class of 2027:
- Demographics
- 82% receive free or reduced price lunch
- 67% are Black
- 30% are Hispanic
- 2% are white
- 1% are multiracial
- This class included Success Academy’s first graduates to attend Harvard University, College of the Holy Cross, Williams College, Johns Hopkins, Bates, Wesleyan, and Gettysburg
- The graduates are attending 62 colleges in 13 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island)
The Class of 2027 College Commitments:
Bates College
Binghamton University
Boston College
Brandeis University
Brown University
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
Colgate University
College of Mount Saint Vincent
College of Staten Island Cuny
College of the Holy Cross
Columbia University in the City of New York
CUNY Bernard M. Baruch College
CUNY City College
CUNY Hunter College
CUNY Lehman College
CUNY Medgar Evers College
CUNY New York City College of Technology
CUNY York College
Davidson College
Delaware State University
Duke University
Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus
Gettysburg College
Harvard University
Hobart William Smith Colleges
Holy Family University
Ithaca College
Johns Hopkins University
Lehigh University
Loyola University Maryland
Marist College
Mercy College
Morgan State University
Mount Holyoke College
Northeastern University
Occidental College
Pace University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rochester Institute of Technology
Seton Hall University
Smith College
St. John’s University-New York
Stony Brook University
SUNY at Purchase College
SUNY Brockport
SUNY College at Oswego
SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology At Cobleskill
SUNY Polytechnic Institute
Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Trinity College
Tufts University
University At Buffalo
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus
University of Rochester
Wesleyan University
Williams College
Yale University
About Vladimir Duthiers
Winner of a Peabody and two Emmy Awards, Duthiers left a well-compensated position as managing director of AllianceBernstein at age 37, to pursue his passion for writing and reporting. After completing a graduate degree at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he re-entered the workforce in 2009 as an entry-level production assistant for Amanpour and Anderson Cooper 360°. In 2014, Duthiers moved to CBS News where he is now Featured Host of CBS Mornings.
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About Success Academy
Since its founding in 2006, Success Academy has created the highest-performing public school district in New York state, and a national model of access to excellence for children across all demographics. We currently enroll over 20,000 children in our 49 elementary, middle, and high schools. The majority of Success Academy scholars are children of color from low-income households in disadvantaged neighborhoods, admitted through a random public lottery. Our distinctive K-12 approach, designed as a holistic thirteen-year educational trajectory, leads to student outcomes that outpace even those in affluent suburban schools. To date, 100% of SA’s graduates have been accepted to college, many to highly selective institutions. Most are the first in their families to have the opportunity for higher education. We regularly share our groundbreaking curriculum and methods with educators and school leaders across the country. By scaling excellence and reigniting the civic mission of education, Success Academy is leading a movement to reinvent public education. All children can thrive and achieve in school, in college, and in life — Success Academy students and teachers prove it every day.
For more information about Success Academy, go to successacademies.org.
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