Page 33 - Florida Sentinel 10-28-22

Local 5 Black Middle School Kids From Tampa Make History, Complete Their First Year Of College
Icon Preparatory School is a private school in the cities of Tampa and Jack- sonville, FL, that educates over 800 students. Icon Prep is open to any student in the state of Florida and commit- ted to closing the achieve- ment gap among its scholars and more affluent peers.
With a belief that a stu- dent’s zip code does not de- termine their destination, Icon Preparatory School em- powers its students to reach their maximum potential, preparing them for life in college and beyond.
Five of Icon Prep’s six founders are alumni of Florida A&M University, a historically black college that prides itself on excel-
lence with caring among its students. The leaders of Icon Prep aim to use the knowl- edge obtained from their HBCU experience to signifi- cantly impact their student population that is 99% African American and His- panic.
The founders are: Dr. Dwayne Raiford-FAMU, Justin Smith-FAMU, Monique Mills – FAMU, Maurice Green – FAMU, Yuri Higgins – FAMU, and Doctoral Student Lolita Jackson - National University.
The dual enrollment scholars anticipate obtaining their Associate’s Degree within the next year from Saint Leo University. They
KAITLYN ARCHIE-MCDONALD
will then transfer to another four-year university as jun- iors to complete their bache-
Meet Miracle Butler, 14, Keniah Washington, 13, Keyanna Grant, 13, Tyreek Nash, 14, and Kaitlyn Archie-McDonald, 14 (in separate photo). This bright young cohort started as the 1st group of students taking college dual enrollment classes at Icon Preparatory School in Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida. They just finished their first year of college as well as three years of high school at the ages of 13 and 14.
The youngest of the group Keniah and Keyanna began tak- ing college courses at 12 years old.
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