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Perspectives H.S. Seniors Get College Tuition Help From Ernst & Young

By Wendell Hutson | February 10, 2014 7:30am
 Since 2009 Ernst & Young LLP has awarded college scholarships to seniors attending Perspectives Leadership Academy Charter in Auburn Gresham. 
  
Perspectives Leadership Academy
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AUBURN GRESHAM — The Downtown accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP has raised $17,000 to help seniors at Perspectives Leadership Academy pay for college this fall.

Since its partnership with Perspectives began in 2006, the accounting firm has provided more than $1.5 million in sponsorships, and since 2009, students have received $62,965 in college scholarships, according to Anthony Carmello, a partner with the firm's Chicago practice.

"Every year we raise money to help Perspectives students with college and have been doing so for the last five years," he said. "We try to make as big of an impact as we can in their lives."

In 2013, Ernst & Young announced a $450,000 commitment over three years to the Perspectives campus at 8131 S. May St.

There are 12 seniors in Ernst & Young's College Mentopring for Access and Persistence program, through which seniors are eligible for college scholarships. Last year the firm awarded four seniors $16,500 in scholarships, Carmello said.

The program is open to juniors and seniors, and provides students life-building skills.

"It is a small-group mentoring program that helps underserved 11th- and 12th-grade students prepare for a post-secondary educational program," said Amy Norwalk, a spokeswoman for Ernst & Young.

Program volunteers also take students on college tours, help prepare them to take the ACT and give assistance filling out college applications and applying for financial aid. Some 480 students attend Perspectives, and school Principal Heather Haines said she is grateful for all the help given to her students.

The mentors "do so much for our students, and it makes a world of difference for many of them," Haines said. "When students see people who have gone to college, that makes them what to do the same."