More success stories like this, please!

Here and Now reports:

Every Student At This Inner-City High School Is Going To College

For the eighth year in a row, the entire senior class at Verbum Dei High School – an all-male college and career preparatory Jesuit high school in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles – has been accepted into college.

The 68 seniors, many of whom are the first in their families to go to college, will be leaving their inner-city neighborhood to pursue higher education across the country.

“The Verb,” as the school is called, caters to low-income students – some of whom are behind in their academic standing by about two or three years. The school packs six to seven years of high school into four, and does so with a four-day school week. Administrators say that rigorous course work, small college preparatory classes, corporate work experience and a supportive environment from teachers and family is the key to students’ success.

Here & Now’s Lisa Mullins spoke with Verbum Dei’s 2015 valedictorian Nicholas Spates, who will attend Georgetown University in the fall, and Martinique Starnes, the school’s dean of counseling and student affairs, about what it takes to be successful inside and outside of the classroom.