WAUKEGAN TO COLLEGE NFP
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Mission Statement
Waukegan to College creates brighter futures for students, families, and communities by preparing students to enroll in and graduate from college.
About This Cause
At Waukegan to College, we work to create brighter futures for students, families, and our community by preparing students to enroll in, and graduate from, college. We've intentionally developed our model to be holistic in nature and comprehensive in scope, not only by including the families of our students, but also by creating services that meet students’ needs through college readiness, college access, and college persistence programming until college graduation. We offer 1:1 tutoring, family workshops, mentoring, field trips, college and career site visits, application assistance, SAT/ACT prep, 1:1 college advising, financial aid assistance, and more for students as young as 5th grade. We're proud to house a parent leader group and a parent peer-mentor program as well, ensuring grassroots connection, voice, and support to our families as a unit. Our program exclusively serves first-generation college-going students within Waukegan schools and their parents/caregivers. By starting the program with students just before they enter middle school, we establish high academic expectations and a concrete sense that college, with hard work, is attainable. Through monthly workshops, individually-tailored advising, and uniquely curated Individual Student Success Plans—new in 2022—we provide families with critical college-going information, guidance, and the technical support necessary for academic success. Waukegan Public Schools District 60 is under-resourced and exists within a historically disinvested community, leading to systemic challenges and barriers to accessing quality education for each family in the district. The graduation rate at Waukegan High School is 74% while the state average is 87.3% and 69% of families residing in the district are low-income. Just 65% of 9th graders are considered on track academically. (https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/school.aspx?source=profile&Schoolid=340490600260022) Together with our school district leadership, we are collaborating to create change and open new doors. One of our key roles is removing barriers, thus releasing potential within students who otherwise don’t see college as a reality. Due to many social, cultural, and economic obstacles, we've found that our students feel locked out of higher education because of one of three reasons: Ignorance, not knowing how or why to even start the journey; Worth, as in feeling like, “I don't belong;” and Capacity, a sense of, “I don't have the grades or financial means.” We're dedicated to tackling obstacles together by providing information; being the mirror that they need, so that students believe in themselves and know that they deserve to go to college just as much as anyone else; and finally, by providing tools and resources to make college possible. High-level results from last year include: ● A record 21 Waukegan to College high school seniors graduated and are now attending universities including Boston University, University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana, New York University, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, University of Illinois-Chicago, Macalester College, Vanderbilt University, Northwestern University, Brown University, College of Lake County, Lake Forest College, and more. Together, these 21 high school graduates amassed almost $14 million in scholarship awards–we could not be more proud of their accomplishments. ● 100% of our students graduated from high school and matriculated to college. ● Four of the “Top Ten” academic Waukegan High School 2022 graduates were Waukegan to College participants. ● More than 150 active volunteers provide reading support, math enrichment, tutoring, essay writing help, interviewing practice, mentoring, and so much more. ● 100% of our eligible students completed federal student aid applications; 57% of our rising college freshmen had $0 out-of-pocket costs for college after their student loans, only 1 had a gap of over $3000 for the entire school year. ● Cumulative total of 78 college graduates since our inception. ● As of FY23, we have more than families with multiple siblings in the program, demonstrating that we are working within a socio-ecological framework, creating positive change alongside our families one student → one family → one school → one community at a time. ● We are delighted to share that in 2022, Waukegan to College received a national award for our exceptional work in educational access: The National Partnership for Educational Access Jack Cooke Kent Award for Excellence, Program Leader in Equity. Receiving this national award was an incredible honor. ● Recognized Community Champions of the National Partnership for Student Success, a public-private partnership committed to providing the supports that will help our students succeed that was launched by the Biden Administration in 2022. Thank you for your support! Check out this quick video to see for yourself! https://youtu.be/Ht2bOUFB3dw