U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan Visits Noble

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spent an afternoon at Johnson College Prep (JCP) during a visit to Chicago on April 13th. Secretary Duncan met with Noble's CEO and founder, Michael Milkie and Johnson College Prep's Principal Garland Thomas. Student moderators facilitated a Q & A session with Secretary Duncan after he delivered an address to the JCP scholars. Before departing, Secretary Duncan signed a basketball for the campus and was presented with a personalized basketball jersey from the JCP students.

Secretary Duncan meets with the students of Johnson College Prep.

Mayor-Elect Rahm Emanuel delivered the keynote address to the student body and a crowd of notable participants at Johnson College Prep's first Success Looks Like Me Career Day on April 15. Martin Nesbitt, leader of the founding donors behind JCP, was on hand to introduce the Mayor-Elect. The Career Day included a panel discussion between a distinguished group of African American professionals and an afternoon of breakout sessions on different career paths. Students were able to attend sessions on business, education, finance, government, journalism, law and medicine led by a variety of presenters including: Helen Ashford, Robert Blackwell Jr., Anita Blanchard, John Ellis, Melody Hoffman, Lyle Logan, Langdon Neal, Martin Nesbitt, and Gene Saffold. Thank you to the panelists and presenters who generously gave their time to introduce the students of Johnson College Prep to new career paths and opportunities!

Left:Principal Thomas moderates the panel including Helen Ashford, Anita Blanchard, Lyle Logan and John Ellis, while Martin Nesbitt answers a question. Right: Michael Milkie, Mayor-Elect Emanuel and JCP students participate in Career Day.

Over 100 Colleges Attend the Third Network-wide College Fair

Juniors from seven Noble Network campuses ascended on the Gary Comer Youth Center the afternoon of April 13th for the third Noble Network College Fair. More than 800 students spent the afternoon meeting with representatives from 101 colleges and universities learning about the different programs, scholarships and opportunities college education can offer. The College Fair drew campus representatives of schools from 23 different states making it one of the largest college fairs in Illinois. Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, Notre Dame and Georgetown University were some of the schools on hand to meet students. Mike Huguelet, Dean of College & Citizenship at Gary Comer College Prep was told by a college representative that "We can't believe that we have been missing out on your students. We hadn't heard of Noble until today, but we have to get your kids. We are going to make sure that everyone in our admissions office knows about Noble."

Left: College Fair 2011. Right: Students speak with a college representative.

Noble's Class of 2011 on the Way to College

Above: Golder College Prep seniors work on college materials during their Collegiate Seminar class.

100% of Noble seniors have applied to college, and more than 98% have received at least one acceptance letter, mostly from four year schools. For the second year in a row, Rauner College Prep boasts the most Posse Scholarship winners in the city; five students were selected for this competitive four-year scholarship with on-campus support. Noble students are currently in final rounds for the Dell Scholars program, the QuestBridge Scholarship, the Golden Apple Scholarship and more. In 2010, 83% of Noble graduates were the first in their family to go to college. We expect to maintain or increase this number when five classes - from Noble, Rauner, Pritzker, Rowe-Clark and Golder - graduate this June. Congratulations to Golder College Prep for being the first Noble campus to achieve 100% college acceptance for its senior this year!