A Decade of Excellence: Southland College Prep sends 'All' to College

Southland College Prep Charter High School in Richton Park, Illinois celebrated for the tenth consecutive year that all members of the senior class have been accepted to college.

During an “All-In” event last week, it was announced that the Southland College Prep class of 2023 at the predominantly African American school earned $60 million in merit-based scholarships.

Southland seniors were admitted to some of the top colleges and universities in the country, including class valedictorian Hailey Love, who was admitted to a school record of five Ivy League schools and selected as a Gates Scholar, one of the most prestigious scholarships in the country, that will provide her with 100 percent of college costs.

Despite the challenges of navigating their high school years during a pandemic and a new world of social distancing and virtual learning, members of the class of 2023, the school’s 10th graduating class since its founding in 2010, endured and made remarkable achievements, according to administrators.

“Our students faced unprecedented challenges and they addressed every one of them and more than met them,” said Dr. Blondean Y. Davis, Southland’s CEO.

Dr. Davis, who is also the superintendent of Matteson School District 162, said that when she founded the school in 2010 naysayers told her that “students from our area would not be able to access the Ivy League or top schools in the country.”

Thirteen years later, not only are students being admitted to these schools, but Davis said that it is important that students are also being given the financial means to stay in school.

“These seniors were just kindergartners when Southland opened its doors,” Davis said. “This is what happens when what seemed impossible becomes a reality and a vision is realized. This is what happens when a community’s dreams for their children are achieved.”

Collectively, the ten graduating classes of Southland have earned more than $350 million in merit and need-based scholarships, according to Robert Lane, the school’s director of college admissions.

“These college admissions and the financial aid and scholarships these students have worked hard for and earned represent hope for the future of not just these students and their families, but for our communities in the south suburbs,” Lane said.

Lane said that admissions to the top schools are important, but equally important is that every class member finds a school that is right for them. For example, Lane said, more than half of all seniors were accepted to top Historically Black Colleges and Universities including Howard, Spelman, Morehouse, Xavier University of Louisiana, and Hampton and a record number of Southland students were admitted to the state’s flagship university, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This year’s class will probably have the highest number of graduates who will enroll at UIUC, according to Lane.

Every year since its first graduating class in 2014, Southland, whose enrollment is not selective but chosen by an annual lottery, has had a 100 percent college acceptance rate.

Hailey Love, 18, of Matteson, is the Class of 2023 valedictorian and has been accepted to five Ivy League schools as well as the University of Chicago and a full-ride to Northwestern University. She was recently selected as a Gates Scholar. Her story is one of overcoming obstacles to achieve.

Love, who plans to major in communications, said she will be a first-generation college student who has had to deal with financial difficulty as the only child of a single mother and at times being displaced from the home and having to live with family and friends. Her mother suffers from an autoimmune disease and Hailey also faced health challenges with asthma. During COVID-19, Love was the one who ran errands and bought groceries so that her mother, who had a compromised immune system, would not be exposed to the deadly virus.

The one thing that was consistent in her life was school.

“A lot of things were very much out of my control. All you had control over was how you responded to the adversities over which you had control,” Love said. “School was the adversity I had control over.”

Love, who has played the viola in Southland’s strings ensemble for four years and was captain of the tennis team, said school has always been a comfort zone for her and a way to work to make life better for her and her mother.

“That’s why this year, more than ever, I worked so hard to exceed expectations. I worked for four years to get into a school like a U Penn or University of Chicago,” Love said. “I went this hard on purpose. This is not an accident. I am not what I came from. I am what I chose to become. That’s why I go so hard on academics.”