This year at MHS, there has been many additions to the school, including the Schuler Scholar Program, which inducted its very first class of fourteen Schuler Scholars.

The Schuler Scholar Program was brought to MHS to provide first-generation, high-achieving students with the resources they need to be successful throughout high school and to ensure that each student attends and graduates from a top college in the nation

“Our purpose is really to provide bright, motivated students with support,” said Carissa Jandrositz, the school director of the Mundelein Schuler Scholar Program. “That support is there so that they can gain access to college and [be successful on that campus]. Why we do four years of support in high school is really so that when they step on that campus, they can put their best foot forward and really be successful.”

In order to help the scholars through their journey to college, each scholar is provided with his or her own scholar coach who helps guide the student through the many programs Schuler has to offer.

Each scholar coach meets with the scholar twice a week during lunch for REP, Reading and Enrichment Program, and on Tuesdays after school for 90 minutes for STEP, Scholar Training and Enrichment Program.

“You have a lot of supportive people around you. Everyone believes in you, and you believe in everyone,” said Freshmen Scholar Alex Martinez.

In addition to academic resources, the scholars are taken on field trips for cultural exposure throughout the Chicagoland Area. Some of the trips have included sailing on Lake Michigan, visiting the Museum of Mexican Art and seeing the Broadway play “Hamilton”.

“I think the benefit of being in our program is that everything comes at no cost to their families,” said Jandrositz. “All of the cultural exposures and the experiences that our scholars go on, whether it be a college visit to schools in Pennsylvania or tickets to “Hamilton”, all of that comes at no cost to the families. I think it’s really about gaining that knowledge and expertise of yourself.”

Junior year is when the scholars start to receive resources that help them through the college process. Jandrositz said that the scholars receive 10 weeks of ACT Prep and are taken on three different sets of college visits, including one that stretches over all of Spring Break and allows the scholars to visit more than 10 colleges.

“We have a college coach that helps us out picking some colleges and going through the college application process. Once we get into college, there is a Schuler college alumni program at the college, so we meet with them,” said Freshmen Scholar Nickie Figueroa.

With the help of the Schuler Scholar Program, the fourteen MHS scholars will have access to the resources they need to be successful throughout high school and college.

“Schuler prepares me not only for the rest of my high school experience, but for my future as a person who will never give up or back down,” said Martinez. “I am honored and full of joy to be a part of a group of supportive people who believe we can be the change in the world.”