Southland Charter School Serenades HBCU College Presidents Downtown

Southland College Preparatory Charter High Class celebrated Tuesday its deep-rooted history with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) with a choir performance to welcome the HBCU presidents gathered in Chicago.

Under the direction of Southland’s Elizabeth Norman Sojourner, who attended an HBCU school Morgan State University in Baltimore, the student choir brought a glow and spirit to the Prairie Room of McCormick Place’s Hyatt Regency Hotel for the HBCU President’s Roundtable attended by 35 top presidents from around the nation.

Over the last nine years, Southland students’ academic performances have landed them scholarships at every HCBU institution in the nation.

“Past, present and future, our Southland teachers, former students and future students share a bond in higher education with HBCU institutions that gets stronger every year,” said Dr. Blondean Y. Davis, Southland CEO and superintendent of Matteson Elementary School Dist. 162.

“For our students of color to perform for Black university presidents and personally meet such influential leaders is powerful,” said Davis, who is a working board of trustee member at Tougaloo College, a Jackson, Mississippi HBCU. Davis also holds an honorary doctorate degree from Tougaloo College, former Southland graduate Dwayne Neff’s current college.

To date, Southland students have gained admittance to the finest HBCU schools, as well as Ivy League institutions and the most elite and prestigious schools in the country including: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern and Vanderbilt.

Students are accepted to 49 of the top 50 colleges in America and counting. Robert Lane, the school’s director of college admissions, reports that Southland students have been accepted to 100 percent of all HBCU institutions and have students currently enrolled in 17 of the top 20 HBCU institutions.

Currently, these former Southland students are enrolled in HBCU schools.

Howard University - Ryanne Howard

Spelman College - Kylie Hughes

Morehouse College - Jordan Lawton

Xavier University - Janiece Stephens

North Carolina A&T - Michael "CJ" Jones

Hampton University - Janieya Flemming

Clark Atlanta - Lorin Ward

Tuskegee University - Jalen Stamps

Florida A&M - Breana Giles

Fisk University - Alexis Eiland

Tougaloo College - Dwayne Neff

Jackson State - Ciera Johnson

UAPB - Jalynn Grimes

Kentucky State - Larissa Williams

Tennessee State - Michael Wilson

Alabama A&M - Colin Cogar

Texas Southern - Brianna Moreland

Central State - Kyla Smith

Langston University - Joseph Farr-Thomas

Harris Stowe State University - Jada Bey

On hand with the choir was Southland’s Fine Arts Director, Dr. Carl Cogar, a graduate of HBCU’s Mississippi Valley. His son Colin currently is an instrumental music education major HBCU’s Alabama A&M. Over the years, Dr. Cogar has strengthened the alliance with HBCU music departments by hosting “Audition Nights” at Southland for scores of HBCU band directors.

“We have a record number of admission offers to HBCU schools this year,” said Lane. “Traditions are building within families and schools that will further strengthen HBCU schools nationally for generations.”

Dr. Chip Johnson, a Southland administrator, facilitated the panel discussion “Deep Dive Discussion” for the HBCU Presidents Round Table. Johnson attended Fisk University.

“Our students will always remember meeting and talking directly with Black college and university presidents,” said Johnson. “Our young people always gain when they meet the leaders they can become.”