Chicago, Il. — Called “The School That Wouldn’t Die” by Reader’s Digest in January 1994, Providence St. Mel School Founder Paul Adams III led a historic national campaign in 1978 to save the historic inner-city institution. The story which caught the attention of President Ronald Regan and First Lady Nancy Regan, Adams vaulted the once troubled and gang-ridden school into a successful educational center on the West Side of Chicago. Now 42 years later after issuing its first diplomas as an independent high school, the school is weathering another great storm: The Coronavirus.
As the West Side suffers from the highest infection rates in the city and the country, Providence St. Mel School has once again rallied a community in crisis. From providing tuition relief and paying faculty and staff their full pay to ordering groceries for school families, the school continues to be a pillar of strength in this underserved community.
“We know that we must remain a pillar of strength for our families and a place of relief, comfort, and support,” said Providence St. Mel President Jeanette Butala. “We have conducted needs assessments in order to address the needs of our families and our community – needs that go so much further than providing a quality online education to our students.”
In fact, during a counseling session with a PSM parent, the school learned she was the caretaker of her mother who is currently battling cancer and tested positive for COVID-19. Due to a lack of insurance covering her mother’s needs and faced with her own unemployment, the family was overwhelmed with financial strains. Worrying about tuition payments or where the next meal would come from was something the school believed no family should face. The school provided her with tuition relief for the rest of the academic year, while also having her requested grocery list delivered to her within hours. Providence St. Mel School found a way.
While on the frontlines of battling the ravaging effects of COVID-19 to their student population, their greatest accomplishment is having 100 percent of their graduates accepted to four-year colleges and universities for the last four decades. The Class of 2020 is no exception. This is a dynamic and talented group of students from a part of the city that is often written off or forgotten.
Posse Scholar Malik Epps is the Valedictorian of his class. Epps is a member of the Future Business Leaders of America and a National Honors Society Member. He served as vice president of the senior class and raised thousands of dollars for his classmates. Epps will attend University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall on a full Posse scholarship and plans to major in Communication Arts.
Pilchard Scholar Brianna Pickett is this year’s Salutatorian. Brianna has attended Providence St. Mel since kindergarten. She served as senior class president and has been a class officer since her freshman year. Pickett is a National Honors Society member and will attend Howard University in the fall where she plans to major in Biology and pursue a career as a forensic pathologist.
Other Pilchard scholarship recipients include Desmond Brown, Jonathan Gregory and Malayah Johnson. Jonathan Gregory is also the 2020 recipient of the prestigious William Fry Scholarship to attend Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
This is the standard Providence St. Mel produces and has been doing so for decades. Adams preached the importance of PSM students doing three things: Go to college, return to their roots, and send their kids to Providence St. Mel School.
That resonated with this year’s commencement speaker Adwoa Antwi-Barfi, a Providence St. Mel Class of 2000 graduate. Adwoa is a portfolio and process manager at McDonald’s. She also serves on the Executive Council of the Associate Board of Providence St. Mel School. Adwoa earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics with a minor in History from Boston College and is working toward her MS in Applied Mathematics from DePaul University here in Chicago.
Providence St. Mel has produced a number of distinguished alumni who have returned or gave back to their roots, including John W. Fountain, PSM, Class of 1978. Fountain is an award-winning journalist who has worked for the New York Times, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune. He was recently named a Fulbright Scholar. Sylvia Jones, PSM, Class of 1989 is an award-winning journalist and screenwriter who currently works for Showtime Networks. In 2019, she was awarded the Trailblazer Award for writing on “The Chi” and “Tell Me a Story.” Her work as a writer on the “Clark Sisters” which aired Easter Weekend was declared Lifetime’s biggest hit in four years.
There are many more Providence St. Mel students and alumni who are effecting change in their communities and the world-at-large produced by the miracle of hard work. Provident St. Mel School is fulfilling its generational mission even as the country faces a generational cris
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