Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso proudly presented a group of high-achieving students going off to the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland, College Park at a board meeting recently.
It was an honor for the students, who are among a smaller-than-usual pool who had been accepted at those schools through special programs.
In recent years, Hopkins and College Park have attempted to boost the number of city public school students who were able to attend their institutions – among the most prestigious in the state – by getting rid of one of the most difficult barriers: money.
Hopkins has agreed to give any student in the city who can get admitted free tuition. Maryland has said it will do the same for one student from each of the nine city high schools each year.
The results have been mixed, with enrollments up some in the past decade, but the numbers are still small overall. This year is no exception.
In 2008, only 13 students were accepted at Hopkins. Next fall, 15 city students will attend the school, up slightly, but still far below the 23 who were accepted to Hopkins in 2005.
Maryland gave only seven students scholarships this year. Two schools, Northwestern High School and Forest Park High School, didn't have a student who was qualified to be accepted into the state's flagship school.
Of those students who have been accepted to Hopkins, three are from City College, two are from the School for the Arts, one is from Digital Harbor High and one is from Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School. The remaining eight students come from Polytechnic Institute.
Here is a list of the Maryland College Park Scholars:
Sade Diggs, Western; Ashley Hall, Baltimore School for the Arts; Kori Hill, City College; Juan Peralta, Digital Harbor; Tamicka Smithson, Dunbar; Shamia Stewad, Poly; Tiara Whitfield, Mervo.
The Baltimore Scholars accepted to Hopkins are:
From City College: Anais Naharro Murphy, Zoe Rammelkamp and Rachel Smith.
From Poly: Hannah Bands, Teno Boone, Morgan Glaze, Kayleigh Horst, Michael Lampart, Chardaye Matthews-Page, Joseph Schwartz, Christian Wisner-Carlson,
From the School for the Arts: Christopher Digregorio and Shea Lawson.
From Digital: Zachary Bowman.
From Mervo: Lance McCoy.
