DONNA, TX (May 27, 2010) – IDEA Public Schools hosted its annual College Signing Day May 20. The event highlights IDEA seniors’ academic accomplishments by celebrating their admission to the college or university of their choice.
This year, 59 IDEA seniors, along with their parents and school administrators signed an alumni agreement, a promise to graduate from college within 4-5 years. Twenty-nine of those students are first generation college students.
“The odds were stacked against them,” said Jeremy Beard, IDEA College Preparatory Principal, during the ceremony. “According to the 2004 U.S. Census, fewer than 20 percent of the students in their community attend college and half graduate in 4-6 years. … If these 59 scholars worked to their average potential, only 45 of them should be graduating from high school. They should have missed a combined 17,246 days of school, and only 32 of them should be going to college. But their story is different.”
Beard said IDEA Public Schools students are committed to strict academic and behavioral guidelines, including 98 percent attendance rates or better, and earning passing grades in all of their classes.
“Most importantly, the students vowed that they would give 100 percent every day and make no excuses on the road to college,” Principal Beard said.
The class of 2010 has garnered a combined 298 college acceptance letters, and every one of them will attend college.
During the ceremony, students revealed their college choice and received their new alma mater T-Shirt.
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