(KTLA) – A charter school in Boyle Heights, California, will be sending its entire graduating class off to four-year universities for the fourth time in five years.
Forty-five seniors at Collegiate Charter High School of Los Angeles were celebrated earlier this month with a special “Senior Signing Day” ceremony to reveal which schools they plan to attend in the coming year.
The ceremony holds special weight for Collegiate educators, as almost all of the graduating seniors come from low-income homes, many of which are Spanish-speaking immigrant families.
The Boyle Heights school is in the middle of one of the densest populations of Latino families who live at or below the poverty level in the nation.
The majority of seniors who will be attending college next year will be the first in their families to do so, the school said, and many are the first in their families to graduate from high school at all.
Hector Alvarado, the principal at Collegiate, said he was honored and humbled to have been part of the journey of these graduating seniors, saying he has no doubt that they will “help solve some of the biggest, toughest problems our society faces today.”
The school said it’s committed to ensuring its students graduate with high school diplomas and embark on the pursuit of higher education, which it said is critical to breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty.
“These 45 Collegiate scholars are proving that, with the right supports, a rigorous curriculum, and dedicated teachers, any student can reach their college dreams in the City of Los Angeles,” said Alvarado.
Collegiate said the school’s 45 seniors have so far earned a combined $630,000 in scholarships.
Collegiate Charter High School is an independent charter school that was founded in 2015. The school is tuition-free, and any California high school student is welcome to apply for admittance, regardless of zip code. The enrollment as of the 2022-23 school year is 206, according to the school’s website.