The Clinkscales twins Darrius and DeVon are the latest example of academic excellence to blossom from the South Side of Chicago as both brothers are set to attend Ivy League institutions in the fall.
Darrius, the elder of the two, is heading to the University of Pennsylvania while DeVon is off to Cornell University. Darrius explained his decision centered around schools that excelled in STEM related majors. Stanford, Boston University, and Penn were among his top choices. He said he’s loved math dating back to kindergarten. He said he’ll focus on math and engineering classes. DeVon said he was looking at schools with “animal- based” programs with an eye toward being a veterinarian when considering his school choices. He said Cornell’s animal science curriculum caught his eye, but the school’s overall ranking pushed it over the top.
The impact of their respective acceptance letters is not lost on the young men. DeVon said he was “proud” that he and his brother would be the first in their family to go to college. Looking ahead to their post-collegial futures, Darrius said they want to make sure they’re not just working for money, thanks to their parents’ influence.
“One thing our parents like to tell us is, ‘don’t work for your money, let your money work for you,’” said Darrius. “It can’t be just about money, we want to do something because we like to do it.”
The Clinkscales did not purposely select different schools from one another but rather followed their own paths.
“We weren’t planning on not going to the same college,” said DeVon. “We were saying that if we ended up at the same college, then we ended up at the same college; but the main point was to look at the college that we wanted to go to.”
The hashtag #BlackExcellence was on DeVon’s mind as soon as he found out he and his brother were accepted into Ivy League schools.
“If you look on social media, you can see there are a lot of Black people being accepted into these Ivy Leagues and these really high performing schools, and I think we are adding to that,” said DeVon.
The Clinkscales are enrolled at Noble Academy, 1443 N. Ogden Ave. The twins commute from their home in the Gresham neighborhood to Noble via the “El” on the Red Line from 87th St. to the North/Clybourn station, then walk a few blocks over to where the school is located.
Lauren Boros, principal and founder of Noble Academy, noted the Clinkscales are ranked among her top students. She was complimentary of Darrius and DeVon’s contributions to the school beyond academics.
“They’re truly special here and leading the pack,” said Boros. “Their absence will be felt, but I think the best part is they’re going to go out in the world and make a stamp on Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania like they did here, and then hopefully in five years, I will be hiring them to be teachers here.”
The Clinkscales are well aware of the perception Chicago carries across the nation and are proud to combat any negative stereotypes associated with the South Side.
“You have really good people in Chicago, and I feel as for me as someone from Chicago, especially from the South Side of Chicago, I feel our going to these schools is showing people they’re wrong,” said DeVon. “Chicago is a good place. Just because you’re seeing all the bad things, doesn’t mean there’s not good things in it.”
Boros said Noble’s senior class consists of 119 students. She said Noble Academy has students from 47 different zip codes from more than 100 different elementary schools. She said another one of her student’s hailing from the South Side, Mia Kelley, was accepted into Harvard University recently.
For more information about Noble Academy, visit https://thenobleacademy.noblenetwork.org/
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