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Honor Roll: Roxbury Prep

Thursday Jun 20, 2019

Honor Roll: Roxbury Prep
  (Source:Roxbury Prep)

Submitted by Roxbury Prep

Roxbury Prep announced today that two of its graduates from the South End neighborhood are headed to college in the fall.

The two students, Shalandra Smalls and Alicia Troncoso, were among the 71 seniors from Roxbury Prep who graduated from the public charter high school on June 4. Nearly 97 percent of the school's first graduating class is headed to college.

"Roxbury Prep provided me with an outstanding academic experience which led me to endless opportunities," said state Rep. Chynah Tyler, (D-Boston), a Roxbury Prep alum who gave the commencement address. "I am truly honored to have the opportunity to share my experiences with the first graduating class and look forward their success in continuing the schools legacy."

Smalls is headed to the Massachusetts College of Art and Design while Alicia Troncoso is attending Worchester State University. Last week, the seniors celebrated their college acceptances at a senior signing day event at the Strand Theatre. The raucous rally was similar to a senior signing day for college-bound athletes, except the focus was on student academic achievement.

Roxbury Prep serves 1,500 predominantly low-income black and Latino students in grades 5-12.

Shradha Patel, founder and principal of Roxbury Prep High School, said it's a remarkable feat for a school that started just four years ago in makeshift buildings now spread on two separate campuses. Roxbury Prep High School is seeking to build a permanent home in Roslindale.

"Our scholars have not only built a level of resilience, confidence, and community in their high school careers; they have paved a way for political and economic equity by pursuing their college educations as acts of justice," Patel said. "Our scholars and their families have put their faith in Roxbury Prep and we are honored to have delivered on our college placement promise."

Roxbury Prep's mission is to get students to get into, succeed in and graduate from college. From the time students join Roxbury Prep as fifth graders, they enter an environment where college is the goal. Each classroom is named after a college and trips to college campuses start in middle school.

To ensure students can perform at a college level, every student is encouraged to take at least one AP course. Most take more than one and 62 percent passed at least one AP exam last year (2018) compared with 32.1 percent for students overall in Massachusetts in 2017.

The class of 2019 outperformed college-going students nationwide on the SAT in the percentage of students meeting the college readiness benchmark in both math and English.
Roxbury Prep is part of Uncommon Schools, a network of high-performing charter schools whose mission is to ensure students not only enter college, but graduate from college. The network serves 19,000 students in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.