Like Tia and Tyra Smith, Nannette and Naomi Beckley are twin African-American ladies from the South Side and graduated this 12 months from a Chicago Public Schools highschool.
Like Tia and Tyra Smith, graduates of Lindblom Math and Science Academy, Nannette and Naomi Beckley, graduates of Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep, notched flawless 4.zero GPAs to be named co-valedictorians.
It’s a probable first — two units of South Side twins making co-valedictorian the identical 12 months.
Officials of their colleges and at CPS can’t recall one other 12 months with twin twin valedictorians however extol the optimistic narrative supplied by the 4 ladies.
“Chicago students continue to break barriers and show what our students are capable of accomplishing,” stated CPS CEO Janice Jackson.
“These outstanding grads exemplify excellence at Chicago Public Schools, and they serve as a powerful example to black girls across Chicago and beyond.”
The Chicago Sun-Times not too long ago introduced you the story of good twins Tia and Tyra Smith. Tia heads to Duke University subsequent fall, to review statistics, whereas her sister, Tyra, heads to Northwestern University to review economics, each on full-ride scholarships.
Tyra (left) and Tia Smith, who not too long ago graduated from Lindblom Math and Science Academy, have been the primary set of dual African American ladies to function CPS co-valedictorians this 12 months. They have been adopted quickly after by a second set, Naomi and Nannette Beckley, co-valedictorians at Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep.Mitchell Armentrout/Sun-Times
Now meet Nannette and Naomi Beckley, whose mother and father are immigrants from the West African nation of Sierra Leone.
Nannette is headed to Princeton University within the fall, to review worldwide relations, and Naomi to Yale University, to review regulation and public coverage.
These twins, too, gained full-ride scholarships. Recipients of the uber-competitive Gates Scholarship awarded to high-achieving, minority college students nationwide, their Ivy League training might be funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“I want to, like, work with the United Nations, or the World Health Organization, so I was really interested in Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs,” stated Nannette. “And having attended schools that are mostly black and Latino, I love the diversity that Princeton offers.”
Said Naomi: “I wanted a college that was the right fit for me, not just academically, but in the social and emotional sense as well. I became really interested in research after helping with a University of Chicago research project and picked Yale because they have really good research opportunities there.”
Naomi Beckley, co-valedictorian at Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep and a Gates Scholar, is headed to Yale to review regulation and public coverage. Photo by Jean Lachat
The twins, of the Far South Side Pullman neighborhood, attribute their success to tutorial self-discipline, mother and father who positioned a excessive worth on training — their mom was in faculty throughout their highschool years — and participation in faculty readiness and entry packages supplied at U. of C.
Both ladies utilized for U. of C.’s extremely aggressive Collegiate Scholars Program their freshman 12 months. The program, in its 16th 12 months, immerses high-achieving CPS college students in college-level programs, profession mentoring, management improvement and faculty planning.
“It’s a pretty selective program. We annually get about 400 applicants, and admit 50. Naomi made it in; her sister did not. But Nannette was astute enough to say, ‘OK, I didn’t get into this program, can I plug in elsewhere to get the resources I think I need?” stated Abel Ochoa, govt director for school readiness and entry at U. of C.’s Office of Civic Engagement.
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