Arianna Alexander, a 2015 graduate of Kenwood Academy High School, located on Chicago’s South Side in the historic neighborhood of Hyde Park (where President Barack Obama’s family resided) has received over $3 million in scholarships. She has been accepted to 26 universities including six Ivy League schools — which is no surprise considering she’s the class valedictorian graduating with a 5.1 GPA on a 4.0 scale.
Kenwood Academy has a history of setting the standard as a traditional public high school as opposed to selective enrollment high schools such as Walter Payton or Whitney Young which are normally touted for successful graduates. Just last year, Dr. Gregory Jones, principal of Kenwood Academy, says that the school is committed to ensuring students are “positioned well” for college. Within the past few years, the amount of scholarships awarded to Kenwood Academy seniors has increased dramatically over the past few years, earning $18 million in scholarships three years ago and now to over $40 million for the Class of 2015.
The Blavity team wants to give kudos to Arianna Alexander – go girl! What school did she decide on? Well, she is on her to way to joining the freshman class at the Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania! Arianna plans to be an entrepreneur and own several restaurants, of which the menus she’s already started to plan. Congratulations!
