Englewood high schooler earns Gates Millennium Scholarship

Success stories are rare in Englewood. But in a neighborhood stricken by poverty, and riddled with crime and drugs, a local student has emerged to prove that success is possible.

On June 7th, LaTreal Peterson will be handed his high school diploma from John Hope College Preparatory High School, but his high school education is just the beginning for him.

His classroom successes have earned him the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship, which entitles him to free tuition for the life of his postsecondary education.

When LaTreal crosses the stage and is handed his diploma, waiting with arms outstretched on the other side will be one of his three “rocks” as he calls them – his grandmother, Linda Evans.

Since elementary school, Evans has shown up to pick up his report card, and checked in on him so often that she gained a reputation.

“Security guards would look up and shake their heads,” said Evans. “‘He didn’t do nothing,’ they would say to me. ‘I know’, I would say. ‘I’m here to make sure he doesn’t.’”

“He lives in a neighborhood where they tell you that you have to sell drugs,” said Evans. “He lives in a neighborhood where people are gangbanging. They salute LaTreal when he walks down the street. They say, ‘See, that’s not one of us… We couldn’t get him.’”

She has always been there for him.

“I remember one time he said to me, “‘Well grandmother, you’re so educated, and you find time to talk to me?’” Evans said. “And I said ‘I will always have time to talk to you.’”

The support has been mutual. LaTreal has inspired his 60-year-old grandmother to return to college to finish the last remaining year needed for her bachelor’s degree.

LaTreal’s other two rocks, his great-grandmother and grandfather, died before getting the chance to see him graduate, but if you ask LaTreal, they undoubtedly will be watching. The son of a single mother, LaTreal was raised in a low-income family primarily by his grandparents as his mother worked to make ends meet.

His father’s absence however, is a void filled by his strong religious faith. LaTreal’s grandfather, a Baptist pastor, became the prominent male figure in his life, helping him develop a relationship with what LaTreal called his spiritual father – God.

“It’s because of Him that I am where I am right now,” said LaTreal. “I take no credit, no honor for my accomplishments. His light and His favor anointed me.”

Just weeks before LaTreal’s eighth grade graduation, he lost this rock when his grandfather died.

When LaTreal began high school, his great-grandmother emphasized education, pushing LaTreal toward unique learning opportunities. One of those was the National Youth Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C.

The family couldn’t afford to send him, so his great-grandmother persuaded a friend to cover the $2,000 it would cost. As a result of that conference, LaTreal now has friends across the globe.

Just two weeks after the conference, his great-grandmother died, leaving financial, as well as emotional troubles behind. Her disability checks had helped support the family.

In the wake of her death, LaTreal took a job to help pay bills at home. He can commonly be seen at the South Side’s Café Trinidad. Peterson also volunteers on Saturdays at the Museum of Science and Industry, presenting exhibits to the public.

“He always attributed his family and his grandma for telling him not to give up,” said Paula Novak, one of LaTreal’s current teachers and biggest fans. “If you have a dream, don’t let anything stand in your way. And I think that becomes a cliché, but for LaTreal, it has become his mantra.”

This fall, LaTreal will get the chance to apply that mantra as he begins his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, majoring in business.

“I understand this is just the beginning,” he said about his high school graduation. “This is just another milestone I have crossed. I must continue on.”

It’s easy to just be a face in the crowd of white polo shirts and Dockers at John Hope High School, but LaTreal can’t walk more than 10 feet without being greeted by a fellow student or faculty member. And of course, the security guards know who he is. Everyone in the school seems to be on a first-name basis with him.

“He has a purpose – a mission to accomplish,” said his principal, Michael Durr. “And he’s going to make sure he keeps that charge at the forefront of his mind until he sees it to fruition.”