In our community, Roseland, only 2% of students graduate from a 4-year university. Our mission at Chicago Collegiate Charter School is that 100% of our students will graduate from college within 6 years of high school graduation. Achieving our mission is going to take tremendous amounts of hard work put in by the students, families, and teachers. Additionally, our pen pals are helping us achieve our mission by creating a collegiate culture that surrounds our students! Having our students communicate with and learn about scientists from across the country opens their eyes to a world outside of Roseland. This is their first peek into the Scientific Community that they will, soon enough, be joining when they attend college! My kids are constantly making connections to their pen pals. “Wow, we’re learning about volcanoes? My pen pal is a volcanologist!” “Whoa, my pen pal makes hypotheses and uses the Scientific Method just like we do!” “This article says that the research happened at UCLA- my pen pal goes there!” The kids love learning from their pen pals, and they are eagerly anticipating the next round of letters! 🙂
PS: Our school also takes two college trips each year to teach our kids more about college and help them figure out what college they might like to attend. The pictures from our visit to the University of Chicago are below!
