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Unique Partnership Established to Inspire Students

Unique Partnership Established to Inspire Students

February 22, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                  

CONTACT: Brenda Lange
Associate Director of Communication, News and Media Relations
215-248-7110

Unique Partnership Established to Inspire Students

Chestnut Hill College joins State Senator Art Haywood and Martin Luther King High School to inspire high school students to consider attending college. 

PHILADELPHIA — When Carol Jean Vale, SSJ, Ph.D., president of Chestnut Hill College, decided to find a way to engage with Philadelphia high school students, she contacted State Senator Art Haywood who was on board immediately. He then reached out to Keisha Wilkins, principal of Martin Luther King High School.

Their joint goal has been to inspire students from the area’s high schools to help them realize that a dream of a college education can become a reality. Through their ongoing conversation, they have explored ways to get this message across.Senator Art Haywood, Sister Carol Jean Vale, CHC president, and Martin Luther King High School Principal, Keisha Wilkins, confer February 11.

The first event planned by the partners was a King High School Community Day on February 11. The college offered free admission to two basketball games to King students and their families and had financial aid and admissions experts available to talk with them about college accessibility and affordability.

Brief remarks were made by CHC President, Carol Jean Vale, SSJ, Ph.D., King High School Principal, Keisha Wilkins, and Senator Haywood.

Their theme was the same: With grit, determination and commitment, you can go to college, you can pursue an education and you can win at whatever you want in life.

“Many of my students are coming to believe that college is attainable, through scholarship, through merit, hard work and dedication,” said Principal Wilkins. “Thank you Senator Haywood for thinking of us and partnering with us — and Sister Carol for inviting us.”

Congressman Dwight Evans, CHC sophomore and basketball player, Mary Trossi, Senator Art Haywood, and Sister Carol Jean Vale, CHC president, pose after the game February 11.

Sister Carol Jean Vale assured the high school students that college is not something beyond their reach. “I want you to consider a college education; college can be in your future,” she said. “We want to do everything we can to help you realize your dream of a college education.”

And after the games were over, Senator Haywood had one message about the power of persistence and commitment. 

“Even when it’s close, even when you’re missing shots, just like in this game. Never give up,” he said. “This is the same thing that will happen in your life. Sometimes it may seem like an opportunity has been stolen from you, but if you never give up, you just may break away and win.”

Invited guest, Congressman Dwight Evans, also spoke. “I am a strong believer in education, and this type of linkage between Martin Luther King High School and Chestnut Hill College will make for a better state and a better country,” he said.

This partnership between Senator Haywood’s office, Martin Luther King High School and Chestnut Hill College is part of an initiative to inspire King students to pursue a college education and to build community connections in northwest Philadelphia.

Other events are in the planning stages and will include tours of the college and other on-campus experiences.

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About Chestnut Hill College

Celebrating more than 90 years of tradition, Chestnut Hill College is a four-year, coed Catholic college in the Ignatian tradition that offers a traditional liberal arts undergraduate program as well as accelerated undergraduate degrees, master’s and doctoral programs. The College has been rated by US News & World Report as among the best master’s universities in the North, as among the best Northeastern colleges by The Princeton Review, and has been classified as selective by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Since 1924, the College has offered a rigorous curriculum that provides students with a broad background in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. The goal of Chestnut Hill College has been to prepare students for life’s challenges by helping them to grow intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and socially. http://www.chc.edu/

For more information about this press release or other Chestnut Hill College news, contact the News and Community Relations office.