FEATURES
UP Seniors: “We Are College Bound”
Seniors from the Englewood, West and Bronzeville Campuses receive their red and gold striped ties for being accepted into four year colleges and universities.
By Dorian Hill
Editor-in-Chief, Bronzeville Campus
At Urban Prep it is tradition that students start off with a red tie. They receive their blazers during Convocation, which is held after the first week of their freshman year. Convocation is one of many important rituals to Urban Prep in which students dawn their blazers for the first time. As they progress through their highschool careers, students are alloted the chance to receive a gold tie for being exceptional in class or in school in general. During a students’ senior year they apply to a certain amount of colleges. Those students are able to receive a red and gold striped tie from the principal of their campus, Chief Academic Officer, Mr. Dennis Lacewell and Founder and CEO Tim King. Once the students submit their acceptance letters, they receive these ties symbolizing being accepted to a 4 year College or University. The On To The Next One (OTTNO) ritual was created in the Fall of 2009 to recognize and celebrate the Class of 2010 (Urban Prep’s first inaugural graduating class) for their dedication, commitment and focus to work exceptionally hard during their 6
time at Urban Prep to earn their official acceptance to a four-year college or university. The name of the OTTNO ritual comes from a song with the same name on Shawn Carter’s critically acclaimed album, The Blueprint 3. If you read the lyrics of the song, it is easy to see that the theme of the song is about always progressing, moving forward, and never being scared to fail while working towards exceptionality. Our young men have exhibited those sentiments through their work at Urban Prep towards exceptionality that has earned them their official acceptance to a four-year college/university. Thus, the chorus (not the verses) of this song is played continuously during this ritual. Students who have received their ties include:
Englewood Campus Darius Bowden Devin Canady Aaron Coleman Tyjen Fields Tony Gamby Micheal Gary Jr. Devion Johnson Core’del Lott Jaden Roundtree Xavier Doby Antoine Winston Percy Washington Joshua Idugboe Travon Arnold West Campus Derek Calvin
Tiberias Canders Marty Cleaves Shemond Copeland Korian Dalton Michael Gray Anthony Lofton Trevon Mason Antwoine Morgan Johnny Neal Jakobi Parker Nicholas Ross Olajuwon Slaughter Bronzeville Campus Jaden Armstrong-Upshaw Daniel Baker, Jr. Rico Barnes Aaron Brize
Fatir Muhammad from the Bronzeville Campus has received the most college acceptances within the network with a total of 57.
Michael Gray, Anthony Lofton and Olajuwon Slaughter (WST)
Roberto Ceballos Phillip Curry Frederick Handy, II Elijah Holmes Tyler Hurn Brian Johnson, Jr. Darrell Johnson, III Kyle King Michael Lilly Xander Maclin
Zion Martin-Dillard Maximus McFadden Jaylen Nesbitt Stacy Reed Jacquez Smith Daylen Treaseh Creshawn Trimble Malik Waddy Edward Walker, III Kendrell Warren LION’S ROAR
