Carin Hennis wants to go into emergency medicine. She’s only 17, but says the sky is the limit and The Mary Louis Academy set her trajectory.
Carin said when the time came to choose the college of her dreams, she was prepared.
“I’ve learned study habits that kind of when I explain to my other friends from other schools they’re kind of like oh no, I wouldn’t put that much effort because maybe their school isn’t pushing them as hard,” she said.
Principal, Ann O’Hagan-Cordes says the school has a 100 percent graduation rate and everyone goes off to college, ready.
“Everything we do is about helping our students graduate to the best of her ability so that she will go out into this world and make the changes we need,” she said.
That’s a stark difference from the current state of New York City’s public schools. A whopping 47 percent of DOE graduates, who were headed for a city university, had to take remedial classes. An audit by the state comptroller’s office also found that only 57 percent of DOE graduates are college ready.
At Mary Louis, students have the option of taking college classes starting as early as freshman year. Out of the 200 who graduated in 2022, they earned more than 70 million dollars in merit-based-scholarships.
“Advice for my teachers and my counselors has been perfectly tailored specifically for me,” said aspire student Veronica Arty.
“I took the most challenging courses and I think that helped me form good study habits it challenged my brain I learned a lot and I feel really prepared for college,” said Marisa Mamak, also in the aspire program.
Worried she wouldn’t be able to afford any of the top tier schools she’s applying to, the Mary Louis Academy’s Aspire program stepped in. Whatever Carin’s parent’s can’t afford and scholarships don’t cover – an alumna of the school will pay for.
“I can get this quality education by just working hard without having to think about kind of can I even afford this,” she said.
These students say at their school – it’s harder to fail than to succeed.