Milwaukee students for the third year since 2009 have been invited to participate in the Fifth Annual 100 Black Men Honors Student Reception in Chicago. This is additionally the second consecutive year that a selection of seniors from Madison, Kenosha, and Beloit has also been included.
The Honors Student Reception (HSR) is held yearly and is an invitational to African American seniors who meet the criteria of a minimum 3.3 GPA and a 23 cum score or above on the ACT standardized test. This year’s event will be October 14 at Chicago’s UIC Forum on the campus of the University Of Illinois Chicago Circle.
A total of thirteen students from Rufus King, Riverside, Messmer, and Divine Savior Holy Angles were selected for the premier 2009 HSR Milwaukee invitational. Twenty-four out of a listing of 33 attended last year in 2010. Fifteen seniors were from the area schools of King, Riverside and Messmer. The remaining 18 listed were from Kenosha, Madison and Beloit. The Kenosha Unified School District has already identified nine students to attend this year.
This “Milwaukee Connection” is a joint associative partnership of the 100 Black Men chapters in Chicago and Milwaukee. Seniors who have met the qualifications will be numbered at the HRS with upwards of 200 African American students from the Chicago area to meet with college and university representatives from around the country, many of whom are of Ivy League status. The purpose of this engagement is for seniors to have the opportunity to attract both college admission and scholarship prospects.
“These are colleges and universities that have consistently shown an active interest in recruiting the very best and brightest,” said Ken Malone of the Chicago chapter 100.
Malone adds that the recruiters at the HSR event are from top colleges and universities “that have proven to create leaders from all across the country and have provided students while on campus with the best possible financial and scholarship opportunities available.”
Sample colleges and universities in the past who were on hand to meet with students include Brandeis University, Carlton College, Colgate University, Dartmouth College, Grinnell College, Georgetown University, Howard University, IIT, Illinois Wesleyan University, Knox College, Northwestern University, Morehouse College, Oberlin College, Princeton University, Spelman College, Tufts University, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, Wesleyan College and Yale University.
This “Milwaukee Connection” is a joint associative partnership of the 100 Black Men chapters in Chicago and Milwaukee. Milwaukee and now students from extended school districts, for the third year is the only state outside of Chicago and the surrounding area whose students have been invited to participate in this annual affair.
“I am so proud to have received the invitation again this year from Chicago allowing our students from Milwaukee, Kenosha, Madison, and Beloit to be a part of this unique occasion,” says Taki S. Raton, 100 Black Men HSR coordinator for Milwaukee and the broader identified select cities.
“It is indeed our responsibility as organizations, as a community, and as an African American culture to spotlight, cultivate, and advance our young people who reflect model exemplars of character, academic achievement, and promise,” he adds.
Students are asked to prepare a neatly assembled portfolio with grades, transcripts, two letters of recommendation, a completed common or specific college application, a personalized essay writing sample and resume.
As with last year, it will be again stressed that invitees have a sense of “propriety” with attention to respectable attire, personal grooming, polished articulation, and refined manners appropriate for the occasion.
Under the sponsorship of the Milwaukee Chapter 100, this year as in the previous two, a send-off reception will be held at the African American Women’s Center, 3020 West Vliet Street beginning at 1:30 p.m. Parent chaperons are welcomed and encouraged to accompany students.
An admirable spread of food, refreshments and a brief congratulatory program is planned before the group boards the comfortable carpeted coach bus for the ride to Chicago. Transportation is provided again this year by Providence Baptist Church. Shantel M. Hendricks, Mother of Messmer High School senior Jade Hendricks who joined her daughter on this trip last year said that she “thoroughly enjoyed” the Honors Student Reception: “It is very refreshing to see African American men working together for such a great cause towards encouraging, inspiring, and enriching our young people. Our children need to see what’s possible for them through living examples of what hard work, dedication and vision can accomplish.”
John Kendall, Chairman of 100 Black Men Chicago in a published article last year of our invitation noted, “Milwaukee has graced us again in this their second year with its selection of students who reflect the highest standards of the Honors Student Reception invitees. We are proud to have Milwaukee and their school district guests to join us. We look forward to your participation next year in our fifth annual event.”
Area African American students who meet the noted qualifications and wish to be interviewed for a possible invitation to attend this year’s Honors Student Reception should contact Raton at blydendelany@yahoo.com no later than Wednesday, September 28.
