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Gates Scholarship Brings Tears for Morehouse-bound Urban Prep Senior

 Six Urban Prep Academies' students were named 2015 Gates Millennium scholars.
Gates Millennium Scholars
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ENGLEWOOD — Jamel Chambers will attend Morehouse College, debt-free, next fall.

The 17-year-old is one of six Urban Prep Academies’ seniors named as a 2015 Gates Millennium scholar.

This year, recipients come from both the Englewood and Bronzeville campuses. Urban Prep has had 18 Gates scholars since 2010. The awards cover all four years of undergraduate school for 1,000 students. The recipients, who must be African-American or American Indian, can attend any U.S. accredited college or university of their choice.

“We’re so proud of our students and their hard work,” said Urban Prep Academies’ founder Tim King.

“The Gates partnership is an integral part of our students being able to afford the rising cost of a college education. Our Gates scholars alumni are some of our greatest success stories, and I look forward to their promising futures in college and beyond,” King said.

Jamel, who attends the Englewood campus, said he will major in English and psychology. The West Pullman resident said he then plans to attend Harvard Law School, where he hopes to study to become a defense attorney.

“Eventually, I plan on starting my own law firm. I might not have that much money, but if Google started in the garage in a two-bedroom house, so can I. I can start from the bottom and work my way up,” he said.

Getting this scholarship was very important, Jamel said.

“Before I heard back from Gates, I wasn’t getting any feedback from other scholarships — and not going to college wasn’t an option,” Jamel said, adding that he knew his parents couldn't afford the historically black college's tuition and fees, listed at $26,090 by Forbes.

When he received the letter, he said he couldn’t help but get emotional.

“My mother cried. I cried a little bit. It was like a single tear rolled down. I was excited when I found out,” he said.

Jemel, along with the rest of his peers, consider Urban Prep "family," so he said the other five scholarship recipients were the first ones he called to share the news.

“[My mom and I] just hugged, and then I called my brothers to congratulate them. That’s when I realized my life was set — college was going to be free."

Joseph Olalusi, 18, who attends the Engelwood campus, said that Urban Prep prepared him and his peers — his “brothers” — for life after high school.

“Urban Prep has a way of showing you your opportunities as a minority student,” the Roseland resident said.

“They help you find your identity and show you how to navigate through society as a black man, and so I feel like that’s what a lot of black men in Chicago are missing,” Olalusi said.

Olalusi will attend Cornell University, where he will major in applied economics and management. One day he said he would like to start a nonprofit in Englewood that will teach leadership skills to youths of color.

Kirk Mangum, 17, who attends the Bronzeville campus, said he also wanted to help people, but in a different way.

By majoring in biomedical engineering at Princeton University, the South Shore resident hopes to create an advanced health care treatment or develop a device that will help the sick or those who are disabled.

“All my life I’ve wanted to help people, and growing up on the South Side of Chicago, you really see a lot of people who just need a little help,” said the South Shore resident, who added that his parents have always encouraged him to help others.

Scholarship recipient Chandler Harrington, 18, from the Englewood campus, credits the school for preparing him for life after high school.

“One thing that Urban Prep teaches you from the first day you enter the school is that you’re going to college and you’re going to be successful in college; they constantly remind you that you’re going to be successful in life,” said the Woodlawn resident.

He is attending Cornell with Olalusi and will major in biology.

He and his mother opened his letter together.

“I was shocked to be selected, and I was even more surprised when I learned that my brothers from Englewood Academy won the Gates as well, so it was an amazing experience,” he said.

Kyle Johnson, 17, a Bronzeville resident who attends the Bronzeville campus, said he’s ready for college. He balanced extracurricular activities and academics well, and is now ready to attend Columbia College, where he will major in theater and business management.

Brandon Sparkman, 18, from the Englewood campus, will attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, majoring in economics. He said he wants to be a finance broker and winning the scholarship was a privilege.

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