Chicago Teen is the First in Her Family to Graduate From High School, Will Attend Northwestern

Chicago - She’s the youngest of five kids but the first to graduate from high school. A Chicago teen will join Northwestern University’s freshman class after receiving a full scholarship from the Gates Millennium Scholars.

Michelle Ramos shared three steps she says are “must-haves” in order for students at any school to succeed despite their circumstance or surroundings. It worked for Ramos and she says it can work for the Chicago Public School system.

“I would first say discipline, that's what they start with your freshman year, they're really hard on discipline and it just makes the students more aware of what they're doing… The second thing would be the teachers, teachers that care, teachers that will do all they possibly can to make sure that you understand the material; our teachers have office hours… And I would say the third is just... the spirit or the atmosphere of the school. Everyone is positive,” said Ramos.

The advice comes from the 18 year old who admits before her freshman year at Pritzker College Prep, she almost fell through the cracks.

According to Ramos, “They kind of let me sit in the back of the class and draw or do whatever I wanted. They didn't really look to see if I was doing my work or not and so I feel like if my teachers see me now, they wouldn't believe that it's me.”

But it's no surprise to the team at Pritzker who has watched the teen defy statistics and overcome obstacles.

Ramos excelled in a single parent home with a household income of less than $30,000 a year. She was also surrounded by a cycle of teen pregnancy and drop outs.

“I didn't want the life that my sisters lived. I didn't want to stay at home and have my mom struggling. I didn't want to see my mother supporting me, I wanted to grow up and be able to support my mother instead,” said Ramos.

According to Megan Manna, Ramos’ College Writing teacher and advisor, “You need to give students the opportunity to break that and it's not easy if you're not getting that support at home and you're not getting it at school either. A lot of our students when they come in as freshmen don't necessarily buy in right away that they're going to be college graduates.”

Motivated by a mother who went back to school, siblings who never finished and a best friend who now attends Saint Louis University, Ramos plans to study civil engineering at Northwestern University on a full Gates Millennium Scholarship.

“That's beyond my wildest dreams for my child,” said Ramos’ mother, Mary Ann Nila.

According to Ramos, “I grew up with people who said they wanted to be doctors or lawyers and life kind of pushed them a separate way when they went to these neighborhood high schools. If they can incorporate some of Noble's ideas into the current public school system a lot of things would change.”

Chicago Public Schools released 2011 ACT scores for the district Thursday. Of the 117 non-selective high schools, all seven of Noble campuses with junior classes were ranked in the top ten schools in the city of Chicago, including Pritzker College Prep.