COLLEGE SCHOLARS PROGRAM ’18 | VASSAR COLLEGE ’22
Prior to SEEDS, my educational experience was complacent. I did well in school and maintained a good standing because I knew I wanted to and had to get some form of post-secondary learning. In general, prior to SEEDS, I knew what needed to be done, but not how to do it. For instance, I knew going to school, I would need good grades, but that is something anyone can obtain. I needed good grades in the right spots, in the right classes, to gain the right skills. Meeting guidance counselors at my school was a pretty rare occasion, even for picking our classes for the next year or personal home issues. As a result, my time spent prior to SEEDS was one where I tried to navigate my college-going process on my own by attending one-off summer programs to gain different skills but not knowing how to pull them together. In general, to summarize my experience prior to SEEDS, I was doing what I knew to do best.
In the Fall of 2016, I was called down for a presentation, along with the top 10 percent of my class, from a program called NJ SEEDS. I went to this presentation like I had gone to all the ones before them, open-minded, yet not hopeful. Who wants to attend school in the summer? However, I left that same exact presentation that I had no expectations from, ready to apply and become a part of their College Scholars Program. Why had I? It’s easy. The program offers to help prepare me for college beyond my high school’s capabilities and find the most cost-efficient path to my college degree, whatever that may be. And I did. Once I was accepted into SEEDS, I was able to be in the presence of professional, seasoned, and educated team members, and I have grown exponentially from my original self in October and infinitely more than I would have on my own.
For instance, when you are asked “Why do you want to go to college” it seems like an easy question, right? Wrong. All the answers you have probably thought of were generic and were answers I could have found by typing the pros and cons of going to college in Google. This was one of the seemingly simple questions asked by NJ SEEDS, and inadvertently one of the hardest, but that’s what they are here for. These college readiness programs are your steppingstones to a bigger and better path.
Knowing that I wanted to go to college, it was important for my family and me to have support. Knowing my family’s situation, I knew I would need external guidance in my college-going journey, but I didn’t know where to start. By the time I was beginning my college-going process, my mom had accumulated student loans from my older siblings. As my mother was the primary breadwinner of the family, I knew that if I wanted to go to college I would have to rely on others. FASFA, CSS Profile, Common APP, ACT/SAT, and Financial Aid, were all insurmountable hills I would have to climb to reach my goals. SEEDS offered a way to navigate these hills. SEEDS was a way for me to take myself a step forward.
SEEDS has taught me the importance of access and community. For me, not only did I gain from being in an academically dense environment that raised the bar for my personal standards, but I also learned the importance of community and networking. As a high-achieving Junior, I already had the basics of my college-going journey set. However, SEEDS, like water, nurtured the roots, of my skills and knowledge and has helped me reach farther than I could have on my own. In this process, they introduced me to my ambitious peers and professional contacts that we can use to navigate my life.
My top five reasons for going to college were: to find my aspiration in life, further my education on the subject I adore most, influence those around me in a positive way, use my education to create a positive impact on society, and make money to support myself and my future lifestyle. It was moments like these in my first week in SEEDS to current times that make me truly thankful and appreciate all college readiness programs and you should too. These programs are designed to provide better support to us young students who don’t know exactly what they want to do in life, or how they would be able to reach it. Each week in Saturday Academy, every intensive, creative, and deep reading we annotated, no matter how different they were, related exactly to our college-going process.
By no means are college readiness programs easy work. These programs are designed to hone into who your true self is and focus on you as a person. The in-depth readings, journals, and worksheets we (me and my cohort) get from NJ SEEDS is almost a psychological battle. It’s almost as if we see a therapist instead of learning about college, but it all comes in due time. College may look to be a dark ominous cloud looming over the doors of your senior, and even your junior year, but there is nothing to fear. This fear of failure or indecisiveness is the leading cause of apprehension in teenagers, and Charlie Day exploits these fears for how they are when he said, “You cannot let a fear of failure or a fear of comparison or a fear of judgment stop you from doing the things that will make you great. You cannot succeed without the risk of failure. You cannot have a voice without the risk of criticism. You cannot love without the risk of loss. You must take these risks.” Being the first of your family to go to college or going to college for something that others may not approve of is nothing to be feared, having a team behind you, in my case SEEDS, makes every uneasy step confident. Knowing why you want to go to college, and what is your passion are the only things that you need to be sure of when you make the decision to go to college.
But everyone needs to be realistic about their own boundaries. SEEDS is definitely a program that makes you recognize the realistic dimensions of your dream to make it a reality, and it may be harsh. Being advised to almost completely disregard “pretty named schools,” otherwise known as Ivy Leagues, and to look for schools that best suited us was a hard concept to come around. Weren’t Ivy Leagues the “it” schools? No, they aren’t. Not every school fits everyone, and this is a key component in the dropouts of college students. However, I personally always think of Sylvester Stallone as Rocky when he said, “Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” With college readiness programs, just like SEEDs, nothing is handed to you. It is all in the name of preparing you for college. The people who attend college are the ones who have grit— passion, perseverance, and willingness to stick through all adversities to achieve success is the goal of SEEDS.
Without SEEDS, I don’t think I would be where I am today. For one, I didn’t know the ACT existed until I was within the SEEDS network and receiving prep classes. I did not know what target, safety, and reach schools were until I was in the SEEDS network. I did not have the capacity to know how to build a competitive college application, especially regarding personal statements/supplemental essays. I think I would still have been able to attend college without SEEDS, but I am unsure if the caliber of schools would have been the same. If you would have told me I would have been accepted into schools like Cornell, Princeton, and Vassar, I would have laughed!
Today, I am preparing to graduate from Vassar College in a few short months and am receiving acceptance letters for Ph.D. programs from the University of Rochester and Rutgers University to name a few. I’m beginning to realize the dreams I set out to achieve in the SEEDS program.
To those who now follow in my footsteps, there is so much I want to tell them. But if I had to choose something, it would be to Take a Risk! Use this space as a sounding board. This SEEDS community is a space that wants the best for you and wants you to reach your highest potential. Take these risks in this safe space. Who knew that a low-income, first-generation kid from Irvington township would be able to reach prestige spaces in Princeton and Vassar? Talk to your peers, counselors, and yourself about your dreams and aspirations, and reach for the stars.
In short, never believe that you know enough, and whenever you are unsure of something ask for help. The college-going process is no different. These college readiness programs truly make a difference in the caliber of a college you would attend, and your outlook on the ominous cloud following the high school graduation season. Like Charlie Munger said, “You’re not going to get very far in life based on what you already know. You’re going to advance in life by what you’re going to learn after you leave here.” As you navigate this time in your life, especially amidst these times of unrest, it is imperative to be reminded of goals and what and where is the light in the dark tunnel called life. Think about the reasons you want to go to college. Think about how SEEDS can help you and use these resources to the fullest. Embrace the change college offers and bask in its resources. Be reminded of your goals, ask for help, and you will succeed.