Not only did three Bronx high schools make it to the top ten list of best high school’s in the New York City area, but they also are considered to be some of the best in the country according to a recently released rankings by education website Niche.

Under private schools, Horace Mann in Fieldston took top honors in The Bronx and 3rd in the city followed by Riverdale Country School which placed 10th on the list. In the nation, the schools placed 12th and 40th respectively.

As for public schools, it comes as no surprise that the New York City specialized high school, Bronx Science, took the 7th slot in the city and 21st nationally.

According to Niche, the 2020 ranking, “… is based on rigorous analysis of academic and student life data from the U.S. Department of Education along with test scores, college data, and ratings collected from millions of Niche users…” with greatest emphasis on academic grades weighting 60% of the overall score.

While both Horace Mann and Riverdale Country School both have annual tuition of just under $55,000 making them out of reach of the average Bronx student but both are committed to providing financial aid to students in need.

Collectively for the 2019-2020 academic year they have budgeted or issued over $20 million in financial aid with 15% of students at Horace Mann having received over $11 million in aid and Riverdale Country having budgeted $9.5 million for such cases.

Meanwhile, although there is no tuition over at Bronx Science, students do have to take a placement test which, much like tuition at the aforementioned elite high schools, becomes a barrier for students, particularly of color an from low-income families.

At least the two hill top schools on the list aim to keep a diverse student body putting millions behind that commitment.

Not bad for The Bronx to have three schools make the cut. It’s worth mentioning that not one Brooklyn school made either list and under the private schools category, neither did Queens or Staten Island.

The world’s first African-American Circus Troupe, The King Charles Troupe began right here in The Bronx back in 1958.

11 years later they debuted at Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey’s Circus in Madison Square which lead to an 18 year with the world’s most famous circus.

Now the troupe is has been inducted into the Circus Ring of Fame for their contributions to circus world.

CBS 8NewsNow reports:

The King Charles Troupe was the first circus act comprised entirely of African Americans. During their show, the group played a game of high-energy basketball on unicycles. 

“The main focus was always that bike,” said Floyd Sweets Harrison, an original member. 

Back then, it was like nothing we’ve seen before.

Watch the video:

JLo’s voice announcing “Next stop, my block, Castle Hill!” on the 6 train or Cardi B screeching, “Next stop 167th Street EEEEEEOOOOWWW” on the 4 may actually now be a possibility thanks to a the MTA experimenting with turning subway announcements into ads.

While there has been ZERO mention of any interest from these two Bronx born and made celebrities, this week the MTA began running subway announcements on the 7 train with Queens native, Awkwafina’s voice popping jokes in between to promote her new show, ‘Nora from Queens’.

It’s the first time this has been done in transit history according to Tech and Transit YouTube video clip where you can hear some of the announcements that are running until next week on the 7 train.

If the MTA can make good money doing this then why not? Anything that would prevent another fare increase for crappy service is welcomed at this point.

Check out the announcements below and let us know who you’d like to hear on your train!

Here’s a feelgood story from News12 The Bronx.

A newly graduated NYPD officer, Angel Familia who grew up in The Bronx is bringing joy to the local deaf community.

According to Familia, his first language was sign language and in fact was his only form of communication until about the age of 7 due to having two deaf parents.

Now he’s a police officer who can speak to hearing impared which is making parishioners at St Elizabeth’s Church in the 19th precinct on Manhattan’s Upper East Side quite happy.

Watch this clip from News12 below:

At the beginning of each year, Welcome2TheBronx combs through The Bronx’s sales data to see if anything of interest pops up and we noticed one thing: Condos are shattering sales records in the South Bronx.

Back in April of last year, a penthouse unit at the newly opened Joinery Condominium in Mott haven, located at 225 East 138th Street ,sold for $911,334 and prior to that, another penthouse unit in the same building sold for $926,608.

Both units sold for above asking price and yet there’s nothing extremely remarkable about either unit other than generous outdoor private roof top terrace space.

The Joinery was the first new construction condominium development in the South Bronx since Melrose Commons in the 1990s (Bronx Bricks at 305 East 140th Street is a condo conversion and not new construction).

When they began marketing their units in 2017, they declared that they were, “Making The Bronx Great Again” and after we ran that exclusive story, they immediately took that tone-deaf slogan down.

RELATED: CO-OP ON GRAND CONCOURSE SHATTERS $600,000 FOR FIRST TIME IN HISTORY.

Before this particular development began selling units in the $800k and $900k range, the highest selling condos were over at Bronx Bricks with loft units selling in the $700k range.

As development continues at record speed across the South Bronx and the waterfront is built up with luxury housing, prices will probably continue to rise as folks are priced out of Manhattan and Brooklyn begin to price out and push out our long time residents as gentrification continues to take a stronger and stronger foothold.

We already know the average local resident cannot afford any of these units.

Besides investing in “affordable” housing that are only rentals, the city should make a real effort in providing affordable co-ops and condos so that local residents can actually purchase property where they have lived for decades.

Where there roots and that of their families stretch back over half a century for many.

Savor The Bronx is back and this time with a record 45 participating restaurants to show just what our borough has to show with its diverse culinary delights.

From Riverdale to Throggs Neck and Port Morris to Tremont, there’s a little bit of everything for everyone although we’re a bit disappointed not to see some of the dozens of African restaurants that dot our borough.

Restaurants offer either a prix fixe lunch or dinner special or up to 20% off at some locations.

The following is a list of participating spots:

So make sure you hurry to as many of these local Bronx eateries as you can because it all ends on January 17, 2020!

Check out the official Savor The Bronx special magazine here!