All Southland College Prep graduating seniors accepted to college, garnering $50M in scholarships

COOK COUNTY - Southland College Prep continues its streak of remarkable success as all 133 graduating seniors of the class of 2024 have received college acceptance letters.

In an annual ceremony held on Tuesday, graduating students proudly announced their chosen colleges, symbolically raising the banner of their achievements.

The senior class, comprising 133 members, has collectively garnered $50 million in scholarships to attend numerous top-ranked colleges and universities across the country.

Among the standout achievers is valedictorian Nyeema Martin, who clinched a prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship and secured admission to all 30 schools she applied to.

"From the beginning, I expressed my goals and afterwards I was pushed to excellence. As soon as I said, 'hey, I want to be valedictorian', maybe like I was immediately set in a direction to do that. I always say this, but I feel like when you know better, you do better," Martin shared.

During the ceremony, students marked their college destinations by placing pins on a map, with some fortunate recipients earning full scholarships through the QuestBridge program.

"QuestBridge is a scholarship program for low-income/first-gen students to reach the top universities in the country (and) being able to afford to go to those universities as well. I'm going to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee," said Isaiah Adegoye, a QuestBridge Scholar.

While Southland College Prep adopts a lottery pick system for admissions and is not a selective enrollment school, it continues to draw significant interest, with over 300 students from the south suburbs vying for the 100 annual openings. Notably, minorities constitute 97% of the student body.

"We do it with a really rigorous academic program that's going to trickle down into creating endurance, grit, resilience, and obviously the academic fortitude to demonstrate to schools that our students can do it," remarked Robert Lane, Director of College Admissions.

Sending every student to college is a recurring achievement for Southland College Prep, a feat accomplished in each year of its 11-year existence.