This Philly school has 3 Gates scholars, and got its first acceptances to Harvard, Yale, and Cornell

The Academy at Palumbo, a South Philadelphia magnet, has 304 seniors this school year. Nearly 40% of them — 115 12th graders — have 4.0 grade point averages.

Palumbo’s Class of 2025 has produced the school’s first Harvard acceptance, its first Yale acceptance, and its first two Cornell acceptances. Seventeen of its students got into the University of Pennsylvania. It has an astonishing three Gates Scholars, winners of free tuition for undergraduate and graduate school.

“There’s something in the water with this class,” said Chris Donnelly, one of the school’s counselors.

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The school opened in 2006, part of a push to expand the Philadelphia School District’s high school offerings. Palumbo, at 11th and Catharine Streets, was modeled after Central High. It now enrolls over 1,200 students, most of whom are economically disadvantaged.

Kiana Thompson was a teacher when Palumbo opened; since 2014, she has been the school’s principal. Palumbo’s rise, she said, was intentional.

“It seems like every year, we would just make small improvements,” Thompson said. “We spent a lot of time nurturing the school culture and trying to make it an attractive place for students, where people come in and want to do their best.”

Central and Masterman are typically seen as Philadelphia‘s premiere high schools. But don’t dismiss the Palumbo effect, Donnelly said.

“People sometimes look down on Palumbo, think we’re tertiary, but our kids are really successful,” she said.

That became increasingly evident this year, as student after student reported in to Donnelly, Thompson, and other staff: A slew of elite school acceptances. Three Gates scholars. Six matches from the QuestBridge program, which pairs talented students from economically disadvantaged families with full scholarships at some of the country’s most competitive colleges.

Demand for the school has increased, too. Palumbo now has a few hundred students on its waiting list, Thompson said. Initially designed as a small high school, it has grown every year it has been in existence. Its building is now operating at maximum capacity.

The Palumbo Class of 2025 is also notable for another reason: It urged officials to stop using class rank.

The Philadelphia School District, as a policy, still calculates class rank for each of its high schools, but “we neither advertise nor announce class rank,” Donnelly said.

This year’s senior class is still plenty competitive, but the students asked to end the ranking process, and adults listened.

“We saw how it was impacting their mental health, and impacting the choices they made in courses. They would take AP courses just to boost their average,” Donnelly said — AP courses give grades an extra weight in GPA calculation. “We started having conversations with our student government and our student body and student council. Internally, we felt it wasn’t healthy for them, and they no longer wanted to know what their ranks were.”

Some colleges ask for class rank — Palumbo counselors just notify them that the school does not rank, and can disclose whether a student is in the top, middle, or bottom third of the class.

Palumbo does still have a valedictorian and salutatorian, based on third-quarter senior year grades. Those students just learned their ranks.

A high school is much more than the places its students go after graduation and their test scores. It’s about the things it fosters in its kids, the atmosphere it creates, the culture of teaching and learning.

And what’s really gratifying to Donnelly is what Palumbo kids say about Philadelphia.

“There’s a lot of overcoming odds with these kids,” Donnelly said. “We hear so much negative about Philadelphia everywhere — violence, crime, all of this stuff — but these kids are saying, ‘I can rise above it.’ There are so many success stories.”