Freshman Chance Carter has had a long relationship with Northwestern, but he never imagined he’d be a true Wildcat. Throughout elementary and middle school, Carter went to the Evanston campus for accelerated math and science classes offered through Project Excite, a partnership between the School of Education and Social Policy’s Center for Talent Development and Evanston/Skokie School Districts 65 and 202. The program prepared Carter to be academically competitive in high school and ultimately helped him, as well as dozens of other Evanston-area minority students, to transition to top colleges and universities. Project Excite’s mission is to increase the number of minority students enrolled in high school honors and AP courses, which will help prepare them for a successful college career, according to the program’s coordinators. Carter was part of the first class of high school graduates from Project Excite — and the only one to attend Northwestern. Carter, who attended high school at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill., is a defensive end on the Wildcat football team.
