MEDIA ADVISORY: Decision day for college-bound students from East Area and South LA

• Using Zoom to celebrate this milestone while still practicing social distancing, nearly 100 high school students from the Los Angeles East Area and South L.A. will reveal their college choice.
• The Neighborhood Academic Initiative’s extension into the East Area has led to higher education for 41 graduating seniors, joining 53 from South LA. 
• Almost half of the students will head to USC on full scholarships.

Contact: Ron Mackovich, rmackovi@usc.edu

WHAT: A celebratory online event honoring the first graduating class from Lincoln and Wilson high schools that has completed the Neighborhood Academic Initiative’s college preparation program. Nearly 40 will attend USC on full tuition scholarships while others will attend universities like Stanford, UCLA, and the University of California, Berkeley. The culmination of a seven-year effort, the East Area students have doubled the size of NAI’s cohort.

WHEN: Friday, May 1 at 3 p.m. Members of the media may register here to view and interview students afterward.

WHO: 95 students and their families from Wilson and Lincoln high schools, along with their peers and families from Foshay Learning Center.

A growing opportunity for higher education

The Neighborhood Academic Initiative’s presence in East Area schools represents a major advance for college access.  NAI now serves 1,000 students across five schools; Foshay Learning Center, Wilson and Lincoln high schools, and Nightingale and El Sereno middle schools. Foshay has long been home to NAI and is one of the top feeder schools to USC.

This year, the graduating seniors number 53 from Foshay Learning Center and 41 from Wilson and Lincoln high schools.

NAI has graduated more than a thousand students, and nearly all have gone on to college. More than a third ended up at USC.

NAI is a partnership between USC and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

# # #