A few years ago I heard the story of an all-male, public charter school in Chicago called Urban Prep. I was fascinated by the idea of a school in one of Chicago’s most dangerous areas that made the young men wear ties, be at school from 8:30 to 4:30 and repeat the following creed every morning:
“We believe. We are the young men of Urban Prep. We are college bound. We are exceptional-not because we say it, but because we work hard at it. We will not falter in the face of any obstacle placed before us. We are dedicated, committed and focused. We never succumb to mediocrity, uncertainty or fear. We never fail because we never give up. We make no excuses. We choose to live honestly, nonviolently and honorably. We respect ourselves and, in doing so, respect all people. We have a future for which we are accountable. We have a responsibility to our families, community and world. We are our brothers’ keepers. We believe in ourselves. We believe in each other. We believe in Urban Prep.”
Today I saw that 100 percent of last year’s seniors at Urban Prep had been accepted to a four year college (including such prestigious schools as Georgetown and University of Virginia). This is an amazing feat because only 55 percent of students in Chicago graduate from high school and Urban Prep nearly doubled that number!
The part of their creed that really resonated with me is when they said “we make no excuses.” It’s so easy to get up every day and make excuses for why things happen. You can blame traffic, your co-workers, the weather or any number of things that you have to deal with. But when you stop making excuses you will see that great things can happen.
As the students at Urban Prep say, “Don’t tell me to reach for the sky when there are footprints on the moon.”
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