Five Top Universities Bring College Admissions Event to South Suburbs


Five Top Universities Bring College Admissions Event to South Suburbs

Southland College Prep to host rare opportunity for area high school juniors and seniors to meet admissions officers

College admissions officers from five nationally ranked universities are coming to Chicago’s south suburbs to meet directly with high school juniors and seniors during a special LAUNCH Consortium event at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 31, at Southland College Prep Charter High School in Richton Park.

The event is open to high school juniors and seniors throughout the region. Southland College Prep is hosting the event, and Dr. Blondean Y. Davis, CEO of Southland College Prep, and Dr. Johnnie Thomas, superintendent of Rich Township High School District 227, are joining forces to make sure students and families across the south suburbs are aware of the opportunity and encouraged to take advantage of it.

Davis and Thomas are reaching out to fellow superintendents and school districts throughout the region, extending the invitation beyond their own students and demonstrating a shared commitment to expanding opportunities for young people across district and institutional boundaries.

Admissions representatives from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; Emory University in Atlanta; Pomona College in Claremont, California; Rice University in Houston; and Washington University in St. Louis will meet with prospective students and families, provide information about their institutions and conduct individual breakout sessions focused on academics, campus life and the admissions process.

“This is exactly what it means to be stronger together,” Davis said. “Southland College Prep is proud to host this event, but this opportunity is bigger than any one school or district. Dr. Thomas and I want to make sure students and families throughout the south suburbs know that these universities are coming to our community and that this opportunity is available to them.”

The LAUNCH Consortium — Linking Access, Unity, Networking, Collaboration and Higher Education — is a collaborative initiative of several top-ranked universities seeking to connect with high-performing, dynamic students across the country.

Collaborative college admissions programs like LAUNCH have existed for years, but they are rarely held south of downtown Chicago, according to Robert Lane, Southland College Prep’s director of college admissions and alumni relations. Traditionally, he said, these programs have been held at North Side public, private and independent schools and selective enrollment schools.

Lane said that, to his recollection, a university consortium program of this kind has not previously been held in the south suburbs, although similar programs have taken place on Chicago’s South Side.

“So it’s just a great opportunity for students in our community to have access to programs that allow them to see what some of the preeminent, elite selective schools have to offer,” Lane said.

Bringing five highly selective universities together in the south suburbs also gives the institutions an opportunity to see firsthand the caliber of students in the region and the potential for those students to attend schools like theirs.

“To have five of the most selective institutions together in one place so that students from all of the south suburban region can access them is a great blessing and hopefully a sign of things to come,” Lane said.

Thomas said the collaboration is about using relationships among educational leaders to create greater access for students throughout the region.

“When an opportunity like this comes to the south suburbs, we want to make sure our students know about it and have every opportunity to participate,” Thomas said. “By working together and reaching out to our fellow superintendents and school districts, we can extend that opportunity to students and families throughout the region. That is what student-centered leadership looks like.”

Among the south suburban schools and districts Davis and Thomas are reaching out to are Thornton Township High School District 205; Bloom Township High School District 206; Lemont High School; Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215; Argo Community High School District 217; Community High School District 218; Reavis High School District 220; Bremen High School District 228; Oak Lawn Community High School; Consolidated High School District 230; Evergreen Park Community High School District 231; Homewood-Flossmoor High School District 233; Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210; and Crete-Monee Community Unit School District 201-U.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity for south suburban high school students to explore their future options and expand their horizons,” Davis said. “When educational leaders work together and share opportunities, our students benefit.”

For Lane, the most important word in LAUNCH — Linking Access, Unity, Networking, Collaboration and Higher Education — is access.

“Websites are nice, but to actually have a school visit your community is very powerful,” Lane said.

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