Graduates of Brooklyn High School Headed to College

Aly Kouyate came to Brooklyn from the West African country of Guinea when he was nine years old, fluent in French, but not speaking a word of English.

Now a senior at Uncommon Leadership Charter High School in Brooklyn’s Cypress Hills neighborhood, Kouyate recently decided to attend Syracuse University, where he plans to study physical therapy.

His journey to a prestigious university began years earlier when his mother, who brought him to America in search of a better education than the one he would have received back home, enrolled him in Uncommon Schools, a network of high-performing, tuition-free public charter schools with 24 locations throughout Brooklyn.

The school begins emphasizing college in kindergarten. Each classroom is named after a college and students are taught college cheers. More importantly, students are so well prepared academically in the early grades that by the time they get to high school, nearly all students take rigorous college-level Advanced Placement classes.

As a result, nearly the entire graduating class is headed to a four-year college in the fall. Many of the graduates have been accepted to some of the most prestigious universities in America -- many with full scholarships that help alleviate the concerns about paying for tuition and room and board that can, in some cases, cost more than $60,000 per year.

Students in the class of 2021 were in the midst of their junior year when the coronavirus pandemic shuttered schools across New York City. Within a week, however, students at Uncommon Leadership were back in the classroom, albeit a virtual one, continuing where they left off.

“Our class of 2021 had a junior and senior year like no other, but they persisted through all the challenges, which tells me they can face adversity and overcome it,” Uncommon Leadership Principal Sean Gavin said.

The school provided laptops to students who didn’t have one and insured they had Wi-Fi access so they could log on to virtual sessions. Gavin said it was imperative to keep the students engaged throughout the pandemic because so many of them were taking multiple Advanced Placement courses in which students take a national test at the end of the year for college credits.

Nearly 100% of Uncommon’s NYC seniors participated in at least one AP class and 61% passed one or more AP exams, earning them college credit. Nationally, only about 24% of students pass at least one AP exam and in New York State, that number is 32%.

Sidy Kante said he is ready for the rigors of college after taking AP classes throughout high school.

“High school was rigorous. It pushed me to deal with heavy course work and challenging tasks,” Kante said. “If I was in another school, I would not be taking five AP courses right now. I would not be pushed out of my comfort zone to take these academically challenging courses. I feel like it was beneficial to me because I'll be prepared to handle the life of a college student.”

When it came time to pick a college, Kante was drawn to Brandeis University, the highly competitive elite college outside of Boston named after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.

Kante said he aspires to one day hold the same position as the university’s namesake. He said he wanted to be on the high court ever since learning about U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor in the second grade.

“I always wanted to be a lawyer because I always had a passion for formulating arguments and using evidence to support a case,” said Kante, who has attended Uncommon since moving to Brooklyn from Newark in eighth grade. “I am choosing law because I can be someone who brings about change. I want to make sure laws are fair and just.”

Like Kante, Dabria Hicks, who has attended Uncommon Schools since fifth grade, said she feels well prepared for college. She has taken AP courses and passed all the end of course tests required for college credits.

She is attending Johns Hopkins University in the fall, where she hopes to study biology or biomedical sciences. Her goal is to one day graduate from medical school and become a pediatrician.

Hicks credits Uncommon teachers in middle school with igniting her interest in education.

“I really feel like my teachers helped me to just find myself within the school and decide really on what I want to do,” Hicks said. “They helped me focus on my education fully and put more emphasis on learning.”