Gwendolyn Brooks Academy Partners With Schuler Scholar Program

Starting this year Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, a CPS selective enrollment high school in Pullman, will partner with the Schuler Scholar Program which will provide free on-site programming that will encourage academic success and open doors to colleges around the country for students. Photo Credit: Schuler Scholar Program
Starting this year Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, a CPS selective enrollment high school in Pullman, will partner with the Schuler Scholar Program which will provide free on-site programming that will encourage academic success and open doors to colleges around the country for students. Photo Credit: Schuler Scholar Program

Gwendolyn Brooks Academy Partners With Schuler Scholar Program

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

Starting this year, Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, a CPS selective enrollment high school in Pullman, will partner with the Schuler Scholar Program which will provide free on-site programming that will encourage academic success and open doors to colleges around the country for students.

Schuler Scholar Program is a Chicago- area non-profit dedicated to helping first generation, low-income and underrepresented students prepare to gain admission to and succeed at highly selective colleges. Gwendolyn Brooks is the fourth school in the Chicago Public School system to adopt the program.

“The Scholar Program is focused on working with students who have high academic potential, who are first-generation college students, typically low-income students of color, who really just have a lot of potential but maybe need some support trying to recognize that potential,” said Jason Patenaude, executive director and COO of the Schuler Scholar Program.

The program is currently recruiting the inaugural class of the Schuler Scholars at Gwendolyn Brooks and as many as 20 students will be selected for the program by spring 2019, according to a press release from the Schuler Scholar Program.

“In our program, we have a full time staff that works directly in the schools every day and their focus is to support the entire student.

So we support them academically, with both humanities and STEM support, and we also provide exposures where they can have broader cultural experiences whether it’s going to play or a museum or even to the opera,” said Patenaude.

There will be a dedicated classroom and meeting space for the Schuler Scholar Program inside Brooks Academy where students selected for the program can engage in a variety of academic, personal, and college preparatory programs.

The new center at Gwendolyn Brooks Academy will be staffed by a full-time Schuler School Director who is on hand every day to answer questions and provide support for Scholars.

“We work with Scholars and their parents in terms of their test preparation for the SAT or ACT, helping them identify their list of top colleges, and then supporting them through that academic process. Once they get into college, we will continue to support them through college and as alumni. Our goal is really just to support them academically in college and then after college we try to help them with internships wherever possible,” said Patenaude.

The Scholar Scholar Program will work with Gwendolyn Brooks staff to identify students who would be a good fit for the program and interested students can fill out an application which includes an essay, teacher recommendations, and interviews with the scholars their parents.

“We will work from our end with the school administration in order to try and identify scholars who would be a good fit for the program, but ultimately it’s very important that each individual scholar really wants this and is self-motivated,” said Patenaude

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