Central Jersey College Prep (CJCP) announced today that for the thirteenth straight year, 100 percent of its senior class will be graduating on time this Spring and that every member of the Class of ‘23 has also been accepted to a college or university next Fall, continuing an unprecedented streak which began in 2011. This year’s graduating class will attend prestigious institutions this Fall, such as West Point Academy, University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Notre Dame, Wellesley College, University of Virginia, NYU, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Brandeis University, Rutgers Honors, NJIT, Indiana University, University of Pittsburgh, Purdue, RIT, Kelley School of Business (IUB), the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Georgia Tech, Penn State Accelerated BS/MD Program, Northeastern, Boston University, Drexel, Virginia Tech Honors, Fashion Institute of Technology, and School of Aerospace Sciences/University of North Dakota.

“This time of year is very special, as it is the culmination of years of hard work for our students, teachers, staff, and parents,” stated Dr. Namik Sercan, CJCP’s Chief Education Officer. “Like all public schools in the area, our students include some of the most at-risk and educationally disadvantaged students, with many battling years of systemic racism and part of families that in the past were never provided the opportunity to attend college. Now many of our seniors will be attending the most elite institutions in the country. While we have so much to celebrate, the accomplishments of our students provide a needed and much more important reminder that every New Jersey public school student can succeed if provided with access to great teachers, facilities, and a strong learning environment. Our graduating students show us what positive, generational change in our public schools can look like. We are so proud of our students and thankful for the great support we have received throughout the communities we serve.”

In 2022, U.S. News and World Report announced in its annual nationwide ranking of high schools that CJCP ranked as the top public charter high school in the State of New Jersey and also ranked the school #32 among all 406 high schools ranked in New Jersey and #707 out of nearly 24,000 public high schools in 50 state and the District of Columbia. In prior years, CJCP had been named by The U.S. Department of Education as “National Blue-Ribbon School,” the highest possible designation granted to a K-12 school, and has been widely cited for exemplary high-performing classrooms and their work in closing the Achievement Gap within the Central Jersey region. In addition, CJCP has also been awarded by the New Jersey Department of Education with a Tier 1 designation, the highest possible ranking for a public charter school in the State.

CJPC Student Daniel Spencer stated, “My life changed when I began attending CJCP. The care teachers showed me starting on my first day. The classrooms and opportunities that were provided to all students at CJCP. Most of all, the values taught at CJCP and the high expectations the school had for all of us affected me and were a big part of why I will attend West Point Academy next Fall. I am so thankful for my CJCP experiences and wish more students in the area had the same public school opportunity I had.”

CJCP Student Elif Cebe stated, “I will be graduating from CJCP this Spring and attending Brown University next Fall. CJCP offered not only the AP courses that I could not receive in other local area public schools but support and tutoring that ensured I could reach my full potential. I am grateful for my wonderful teachers and a diverse community supporting me since I arrived. I will miss CJCP very much, but I know the experiences I shared with my graduation will stay with me forever.