Ready for selective enrollment.

In Chicago, selective enrollment schools decide where many gifted students spend their high school years — and the path in starts early. The process rewards students who prepare deliberately, with guidance that understands how it actually works.

Joanna founded YScholar as a sophomore at Walter Payton College Prep, one of Chicago’s selective enrollment schools, to give younger gifted students the preparation she believes they deserve.

YScholar prepares gifted students for Chicago’s selective enrollment schools through focused programs and study systems — built around the admissions path students actually face, not generic test prep.

The organization is run by someone walking the same halls its students are aiming for: a current Payton senior, building preparation with a student’s understanding of what it takes.

Everything at YScholar is designed around one audience: gifted students preparing for Chicago’s selective enrollment schools. Programs, materials and guidance stay close to that goal — and to the city’s schools.

Current programs and enrollment details live on the organization’s website, where they can stay up to date with each admissions cycle.

YScholar is active in Chicago today. Families and students can find programs, timelines and contact details at yscholar.org.

As a founder still in high school, Joanna continues to build YScholar alongside her senior year at Payton — and alongside her second venture, OjO Gifts.