TYWLS, East Harlem Class of 2006

A proud TYWLS, Philadelphia graduate

This June, students from The Young Women's Leadership Schools in East Harlem and Philadelphia graduated from high school and we are proud to say that each of these young women have a plan for continuing higher education!

On June 18th, 49 young women made history as the first graduation class of The Young Women's Leadership School at Rhodes (in Philadelphia). The ceremony took place at The University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archeology and Anthropology and the Commencement Speaker was Ms. Gwen Owens, News Anchor of CN8's "Your Morning". The auditorium was filled with proud parents and family members of the graduates, each who was described as a "unique black pearl" by Valedictorian Aiesha Gary. Aiesha will be attending Gettysburg College in PA this fall on a full scholarship and her classmates will enroll in schools such as Widener University, Penn State, Lincoln University, Lackawanna College and Bloomsburg State University. 97% of the graduating seniors plan to enroll in college and the remaining 3% have plans for technical school and training programs.

One week later, 64 seniors from The Young WomenÕs Leadership School of East Harlem were part of the 7th Commencement Exercises held at the New York Academy of Medicine's auditorium. Deborah Roberts, 20/20 Correspondent with ABC News was this year's graduation speaker and she spoke to the young women about following their dreams and always doing their best. Valedictorian Xocilth Cosme spoke eloquently about the importance of education particularly to her family who are first generation immigrants from Mexico. 100% of the graduates were accepted to college and the students will be enrolling in schools such as University of Rochester, Spelman, Howard University, Albertus Magnus College, Gettysburg and Skidmore to name a few. The proud graduates carry on a wonderful tradition of success and achievement and are true success stories in urban public education.

In addition to the graduates from The Young Women's Leadership Schools, more than 490 students from our CollegeBound partner schools
across NYC also graduated in June. Over 95% of the graduates have been accepted to college and plan to enroll as freshmen later this summer. These young men and women attended the following public schools: Arts & Business High School (Queens), Global Studies School (Brooklyn), Health Opportunities High School (Bronx), International Studies School (Brooklyn) and Medgar Evers College Prep (Brooklyn).

Congratulations to all the members of the Class of 2007!