New High for NYC School Kids Going to College

By NASRA ABDALLA KHAMIS

College enrollment for New York City high school students has hit a new high, Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza announced on Thursday.

“Sixty-two percent are now going to college,” de Blasio said, adding that “more New York City public school kids are  going to higher education  than ever before in our history.”

“We know that your zip code shouldn’t determine whether or not you get to go to college because our kids prove it every day,” de Blasio continued at a news conference at High School of Telecommunication Arts and Technology in Brooklyn.

De Blasio heaped praise on the school, which he said had 82 percent of the students go on to a higher education in 2018.

Present at the news conference was Student Government President Melanie Paredes, the first in her family to graduate high school and enroll in to college.

“With the help of one of my teachers, I am on the path to my future,” she said in a shy voice.

“I applied and got in. I couldn’t believe it!” she added.

Carranza said he was in “awe” of the results and called the day “monumental” for the telecommunications high school.

Photo by Nasra Abdalla Khamis