May 30, 2006
BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter
Like many teens, 17-year-old Morgan Park High School senior Langston Wesley is into rap music. Like many his age, this African-American teen also likes sports. He's on the varsity baseball team. Perhaps a little more extraordinary, he's on the chess team, too.
But here's where he really bucks the commonplace: he's the first black male valedictorian in the 90-year history of Morgan Park High.
"I really couldn't imagine that with all the black males who have gone here, I'm the first to be No. 1 in my class," Wesley said.
The 2,271 students of Far South Side Morgan Park, 1744 W. Pryor, are 93.3 percent black, 4 percent white and 2.4 percent Latino.
Boasting a 5.02 grade-point average, Wesley is ranked No. 1 in Morgan Park's 2006 senior class, just as he was No. 1 in the 2002 eighth-grade class of Annie Keller Regional Gifted Center.
He was accepted at every Ivy League school he applied to and has chosen Stanford, where he plans to study human biology and later attend medical school.
Wesley's bright future contrasts with the dismal prognosis in a study released last month by the U. of C.'s Consortium on Chicago School Research. It found that most CPS seniors lack the grades to get into even somewhat selective four-year colleges -- in particular black and Latino males. It also found that among black and Latino males, only 3 percent of CPS freshmen go on to earn four-year college degrees by their mid-20s, while the overall CPS rate was still only 6.5 percent. It looked at 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2003 grads.
At Morgan Park, Wesley is enrolled in the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate program, which apart from a rigorous academic curriculum, requires 190 hours of community service. Wesley amassed 340 hours of service, all while holding down a 20-hour-a-week job at Osco Drug.
'He blew me away'
"His reputation precedes him," said CPS CEO Arne Duncan, who met Wesley at the May 20 graduation for 63 CPS students from the University of Chicago's Collegiate Scholars Program.
The three-year-old program, funded by the Crown Foundation, immerses the most promising CPS students in U. of C. courses and residential college life, guides them through a college selection process, and engages them in cultural activities and community service.
"He blew me away. This kid's been doing genetic research at U. of C.," Duncan said.
"He hasn't missed a day of school for the last nine years. He's gotten up at 6:30 a.m. every Saturday for the last three years to come to the U. of C., and he's basically made history," Duncan said.
'Parents have to be involved'
Wesley, whose grandfather was a CPS science teacher, always participated in citywide science fairs, but through the U. of C. program, he was able to do research at U. of C.'s Pritzker School of Medicine.
"I was able to design my own project, essentially looking at inhibitory neurotransmitters," he said. "Dr. Bill McDade chose me to present my project at the first undergraduate research conference for the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases. The seven others presenting were juniors and seniors in college. I was a sophomore in high school. I won first place nationally for best overall presentation."
Also through Collegiate Scholars, he garnered an Abbott Labs scholarship, caught the eye of Abbott executives, and will complete an internship there this summer.
Kim Ransom, director of the U. of C. program, raves about Wesley.
"You might think, 'Oh, he must be a nerd.' But he's just like any other young, African-American male. He likes rap music, dancing, and hanging out with his friends."
She added: "I have to give his parents props because I believe he is essentially the product of excellent parenting."
His mother, Deidre Wesley, who is divorced and has raised Wesley and his sister for 10 years as a single parent, shared her secret.
"I just truly believe parents have to be involved, that you have to take the time to know your child and what they're doing in class."
But it's her son who "has worked so hard for what he has accomplished," she said. "It has not been easy. ... I've always told him, 'It is cool to be smart. You are bright. You are gifted. You must always strive to be your best,' and Langston has responded."
So what's in Wesley's speech for Morgan Park's June 10 ceremony?
"The theme, essentially, will be that although it's a great honor to be the first black male valedictorian in Morgan Park's history, the fact that it took so long should not be celebrated," said Wesley. "We should really try to figure out why this happened, to ensure that it doesn't take this long again."
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