Embassie Susberry, ’12, and André Washington, ’19, Reflect on Their Experience of the UChicago Collegiate Scholars Program
Twenty years after UChicago Collegiate Scholars Program’s founding, early participants reflect on its ongoing impact
André Washington was always a strong student, but he credits his years in the inaugural cohort of the University of Chicago’s Collegiate Scholars Program (CSP) with really igniting his ongoing love of learning. In the two decades since Washington participated in the free college and career readiness program for Chicago public high school students, the South Side native has attended a prestigious music conservatory, spent three years in Paris as a Fulbright Scholar, worked on political campaigns, graduated from law school, and taken on his current role as a U.S. District Court law clerk in western New York. And still, Washington says, his CSP experience stands out.
“What really stuck with me was just that love of learning for its own sake,” Washington, who grew up in Chicago’s Washington Heights neighborhood, said. “I’ve always been curious, but it really turbocharged my ability to channel that curiosity. Nothing else I’ve ever done in my entire life has replicated that.”
2023 marks 20 years of the Collegiate Scholars Program supporting students like Washington. The program, led by UChicago’s Office of Civic Engagement, was established in 2003 after the UChicago Consortium on School Research found that highly qualified Chicago public high school students were underreaching in their college applications. The three-year enrichment program prepares talented students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds for admission and success at highly selective colleges. Since CSP’s founding, more than 900 CPS students from across the city have participated. The program offers classes taught by University faculty, financial aid workshops, college and career exploration and planning, nationwide college tours, and other activities on UChicago’s campus to introduce students to the college experience.
Read more at Office of Civic Engagement