A new model for a new generation: High achieving Black students at an Ivy League university

The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) is the ideal environment to study students being successful versus the "deficit" model that has been the primary focus of much retention study on minority students because of its long history of graduating successful Black students beginning with James Brister and three other Black students in 1881. Despite the hostile and indifferent climate on campus, these graduates received degrees and achieved many accomplishments. These graduates established a legacy of Blacks succeeding at Penn.;The purpose of my research is to explore ways Black students access support systems to achieve success at Penn guided by the following questions: (1) What do Black students do in the academic setting to achieve success? (2) What do Black students do outside the classroom to achieve success? (3) What do Black students experience and perceive as barriers that impede their progress towards success?;Taking a qualitative approach, my research design is based on Maxwell (1996) structured methodology built on four main components (p. 65). I conducted in-depth interviews of thirteen seniors in the School of Arts and Sciences based on these questions to assess how their use of resources and how other factors affected the road towards graduation. Findings of this local research model revealed the following thematic success factors: develop early self-assessment and goal setting skills, involvement in the community (student groups and service learning experiences), family and faculty connections as support mentors, and participation in broadening academic experiences.;This local study of how these students maintain success is a testament to their ability to rise above the impediments of classroom isolation, lack of faculty involvement, and lack of a critical mass of Black students, to forge relationships that sustain their own self-actualization. The power of these relationships and their self-knowledge in all aspects of their engagement to continue academic achievements cannot be underestimated.;This study and findings will contribute to the existing body of literature on Black college students' success factors, the developing theoretical research on these students at elite institutions, and assist Penn in improving its academic culture and programs.