Oct 13, 2009 7:01 pm US/Central
Local School Of Scholars Inspires New Documentary
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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For the past 30 years, 100 percent of Providence St. Mel school's graduates have been accepted to college.
CBS
One school is getting around the college financial aid problem by seeing to it that most of its students win scholarships to colleges and universities. The school is Providence St. Mel. Its inspirational story is now the subject of a documentary film playing at theaters around the country. CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports.
It's a West Side school that is the subject of a movie playing in Chicago and around the country. The school is Providence St. Mel on Central Park Avenue in the Garfield Park neighborhood.
The movie is "The Providence Effect." It highlights how the school has been bucking the odds for more than a generation churning out scholars in an area known all too often for its squalor and high crime rate.
For 30 years, 100 percent of the school's graduates have been accepted at colleges.
Providence St. Mel President Paul Adams says despite the students being in a neighborhood overrun by gangs and violence, in the last 10 years, 50 percent of the students have gone on to top-tier colleges in the U.S.
The curriculum is rigorous. Students attend Providence St. Mel six days a week, and often study before and after school in the Garfield Park building.
All families pay something to have their children attend, even if it's as little as $50 a month. The highest tuition paid is $5,600 a year.
The philosophy at St. Mel's is to replace the psychology of the street with the psychology of the school.
Students have embraced it. Many fear where they would be were it not for the school.
"I might be like a lot of other young people out on the streets somewhere," said senior Alex Vann.
Vann credits the school with saving his life.
Ashley Riley is a senior who hopes her ACT score of 30 will help her win a scholarship to Stanford. Riley attended the Chicago Public Schools before transferring to Providence for high school.
She said the difference was like, "night and day."
If past is prologue, Riley and Vann have a good chance of winning scholarships.
The 2008 graduating class earned more than $4.5 million in scholarships. That came to an average scholarship award of more than $70,000 a student.
On Thursday night the school is holding its annual fundraiser at the Hyatt Regency where Tom Hurvis will be honored. He's a local businessman and philanthropist who bankrolled "The Providence Effect" documentary.
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