June 21, 2023
5 Florida Students As Young As 13 Graduate From Prep School With 50 College Credits
The future is looking bright for these young Icon Preparatory School high school scholars.
Keniah Washington, Keyanna Grant, Miracle Butler, Tyreek Nash, and Kaitlyn Archie-McDonald recently graduated from Icon Preparatory School in Tampa, Florida, and are well on their way to success. The San Bernardino American Newspaper reports that all five students graduated with GPAs over 3.5 and already have 50 college credits under their belt. The youngest of the group are Washington, 13, and Grant, 14, who began taking college courses at the tender age of 12.
Icon Preparatory School is a Black-owned private school with campuses in Tampa and Jacksonville and over 800 students. The school is open to any student in the state who is committed to their studies as they believe a child’s zip code shouldn’t determine the level of education. Icon Prep “empowers its students to reach their maximum potential preparing them for life in college and beyond,” according to its website.
View this post on Instagram
The next step for the overachieving students is securing their associate’s degree from Saint Leo University. Then, Washington, Grant, Butler, Nash, and Archie-McDonald hope to transfer to a four-year university as juniors to complete their bachelor’s degrees. Some schools they have in mind include HBCUs such as Howard University, Clark Atlanta, and Florida A&M University, where Icon Prep founders are alumni.
Dr. Dwayne Raiford, Lolita Jackson, Maurice Green, Monique Mills, Justin Smith, and Yuri Higgins founded Icon in 2018, and five of the founders are Rattlers, the mascot of FAMU. According to Black News, nearly 40% of Icon Prep’s staff are African American males compared to only 2% nationally. The school prides itself on providing students with exposure to strong role models and mentors and establishing character development which has been key to Icon Prep’s success.
The school is expanding beyond Florida and plans to open a campus in Cleveland during the 2023 fall semester.