Four years ago, Jocelyn Dorney cried when a ping pong ball was drawn with her number in a lottery to get into an elite south suburban charter school.
Dorney, now a senior at Southland College Preparatory Charter High School, recalled being emotional because she realized she got a big opportunity even though many of her friends didn’t.
The road wasn’t easy; the Olympia Fields resident had to teach herself pre-calculus during the summer to help get her into her dream school: Yale University.
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“I didn’t think it was my dream, that it was possible for me,” said Dorney, 17. “But it is, apparently, so I’m excited.”
Dorney was named co-valedictorian along with friend Christian Davis for the Richton Park school’s third graduating class since forming in 2010. Each year, about 300 students apply to be chosen through a lottery drawing. Enrollment at the school is capped at 525 students.
All 109 of the seniors in the predominantly black school in Rich Township High School District 227 were accepted into college, with some being accepted to 36 of the top 50 national universities and liberal arts colleges listed in U.S. News & World Report.
This year, the college-bound seniors won scholarships totaling about $21.2 million, more than what students received in the previous two graduating classes. Students were surprised with the information about the enormous scholarship figure during a ceremony Wednesday celebrating their personal achievements.
Many of the students were accepted into multiple schools. Dorney said she “lost track” of the number of schools that accepted her. She earned more than $2.5 million in scholarships.
Davis, who tied Dorney with a 4.79 GPA on a 4.0 scale, got into 36 schools. He was offered $5 million worth of scholarships and will attend Stanford next year.
Davis’ family is from Chicago’s West Side but he now lives in Park Forest. Twenty of the 36 schools that accepted him are among that elite 50 schools in the country.
Senior year was “too much fun,” causing him to rush to finish some applications, he said.
“It was definitely a struggle at the last second for essays,” Davis said. “I was really happy with the way it turned out. I was able to have a good senior year.
Davis plans to study bio-engineering and eventually wants to become a neurosurgeon “because that’s amazing to me,” he said.
Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.