As the Young Women’s Leadership Charter School of Chicago on the South Side reaches its ten-year anniversary, its mission to educate young ladies remains unwavering and in demand.

Mayra Martinez knew she didn’t want to attend her neighborhood high school.

“I came from a small school in the Back of the Yards,” Martinez said. “And I didn’t really want to go to the neighborhood high school because there’s so much drama and gang violence and everything else and I just didn’t want that.”

Four years ago Martinez applied and was accepted to the Young Women’s Leadership Charter School of Chicago.

“Teachers here are real close to you,” Martinez said. “They know everything about you.  If you’re having a bad day they’re there for you to talk to.  At other schools you don’t have that — the same opportunity you have here.”

Fourteen-year-old Asia Campbell decided to switch schools when she was in the seventh grade.  She said she was lured in by a key word in the school’s name.

“Well, the name says it all: Young Women’s Leadership Charter School,” Campbell said. “And I wanted to find a way to get those leadership skills because I’m a very nervous person and I have stage fright.”

Campbell is typical of the kind of student administrators are looking for: young women trying to break out of their shells.

“A lot of people who visit our school have this idea that…they’re going to be in plaid skirts, they’re going to have their sweaters,” said Co-Director Chandra Sledge. “They’re going to be quiet, walking in straight lines. Our girls are extremely vocal.  We teach them to use their voices – appropriately – to advocate for themselves.  So, the confidence here is different.”

The school was founded ten years ago to provide lower-income girls in urban areas with a rigorous college preparatory education, with a focus on math, science and technology.

“We say it to the girls when they come in for orientation,” said Co-Director Michelle Russell.  “This is the first day of school that’s preparing you to go to college. It’s not about eighth grade graduation.  We have a moving-up ceremony.  It’s not even about graduating from high school.  You are preparing yourself to be successful outside the walls of our school.  So you’re expected to be preparing for college at every moment.”

Erika Whitehead teaches eighth grade humanities and reading and writing. She came to the school four years ago after reading the charter school’s mission statement.

“I fell in love with this school even more than four years ago,” Whitehead said. “And finally had the opportunity to come here, and now I can’t see myself anyplace else.  If I had a daughter, she’d be at this school.”

There are no boys here by design.  Whitehead says that being an all-girls school helps keep the students focused on their studies instead of the distractions and intimidation the opposite sex may present.

“When I was in my co-ed classroom, I could see my female students kind of shying away from participating because the boys were always the ones with their hands in the air or the boys were always the ones who blurted out the answers,” Whitehead said. “And I think that intimidated them.  Here we remove that intimidation so that we’re solely focused on our girls.”

With a 12-to-1 student teacher ratio, the school boasts the ability to provide individual attention to help those who may be struggling.  A decade in, the school’s statistics are impressive.

On average, 94 percent of students graduate from the high school every year.

Of those graduates, an average of 97 percent are accepted to a two-year or four-year college.

The school’s educators say keeping students focused on learning rather than just chasing grades is key to academic success, so they use an unorthodox grading system.

“Our students don’t receive letter grades,” Whitehead said. “They are rated on an outcome based system.  So, that they have to show what they know instead of just turning in papers and just receiving A’s or F’s.  We do that so our students know that if you are not proficient in something it’s not the end of the world.  You have time to make continued provisions so that you can become proficient.”

The school teaches seventh through twelfth grade and selection is made through a lottery process. The only requirement is that you are a female living within the Chicago city limits.

Demand for admission at the school is high: currently, the waiting list tops 600.  Mayra Martinez says when the time comes she’d like her six and eight-year-old sisters to follow in her footsteps.

“I helped to raise them and I think it will be the best for them,” Martinez said. “I don’t want to have no boy troubles. I want them to concentrate and be something in life.”

And despite the long waiting list, administrators say Mayra has little to be concerned about. Relatives of students and alumni move to the top of the list.