On Monday, May 1, Rockford Promise is going to introduce Rockford to the next 153 who are receiving Scholarships after outstanding careers at Rockford Public Schools.

We’ll have more on our next great group of kids after Monday’s Promising Futures event at the Coronado Theater, but here are a few statistical breakdowns of the 2023-2024 cohort.

Guilford has the largest group of this year’s Scholars. This fluctuates yearly as you can see by looking at the graduates. So far 11 Rockford Promise Scholars have completed bachelor’s degrees (another 57 have gotten associates degrees). Of the 11, five are from Jefferson, four from East and two from Auburn. None of the 4-year graduates as of yet are from Guilford.

Rockford Promise is proud that its cohorts are as diverse as the city itself.

Rockford’s hospital industry, like most in the country, are struggling to hire enough people to handle the increasing number of Baby Boomers who are aging and beginning to need more care. Already, several Rockford Promise graduates are working locally in the nursing industry. This shows that more are on their way.

Other interesting numbers?

* Nine-three of the 153 new Scholars did not have a parent with a bachelor’s degree. That’s 63 percent.

* Eighty-nine of the Scholars – or 58 percent – have part-time jobs.

* Eight different languages are spoken by this year’s cohart.