Blog, News & Press, ReadySetLaunch
RSL Ambassador Visit
posted from
by Andrew Chun
This time of the year I always remind myself to be thankful for my education. I went to Brighton High, a quality public school in the suburbs of New York — a place with caring teachers and devoted counselors. Eventually, it was only with Brighton’s nurturing and guidance that I gained admission to Yale, the university of my dreams.
When I went back to Rochester for Thanksgiving break, however, I decided to save the visit to my old school for later. Instead, I went to three different inner-city high schools as an ambassador for ReadySetLaunch. On my visit, I saw kids with great determination and drive to succeed. Yet they lacked the engaging, individualized college counseling that I was able to benefit from at Brighton.
On my visits, I met with school counselors and principals and gave a presentation on the work of ReadySetLaunch. I talked to them about how our mentors help students through the complicated college application process without charge and level the playing field for financially underprivileged high school students and their families.
After speaking with school administrators, I saw how the schools I visited have a variety of things in common. First, they have motivated students that eagerly want to attend college and help their families break out of poverty. Second, to no fault of their own, guidance counselors are constantly overbooked as they are solely responsible for hundreds of students, leaving each student with very little time for individual support. Third, each school could use the assistance of an organization like ReadySetLaunch.
As a new mentor, I had been told what ReadySetLaunch did and what it stood for when I applied. Yet to have firsthand experience with the counselors and students that would potentially be receiving our help was striking. I won’t forget the excitement that grew on their faces as hope filled their eyes as I told them about the help we could provide.
Every Thanksgiving Day I try to be especially thankful for my loving family, my supportive friends, and my superb education. This year I’m thrilled to be able to add my participation with ReadySetLaunch to that list. I can confidently say that my experience as an ambassador has made me extremely grateful to be a part of this organization. Visiting these schools provided me a memorable sample of how ReadySetLaunch works as a vehicle of hopes and dreams for many of its applicants and mentors.
Applications, News & Press, ReadySetLaunch
Mentee Application Review
posted from
by Marc DeWitt
As a new member of ReadySetLaunch, I took part for the first time three weeks ago in the bi-annual review session of applications for the following semester. I joined a group of over thirty mentors in the Calhoun Fellow Lounge at Yale University to determine which high school students are best suited for our online mentoring program. Each individual application received great scrutiny and was typically reviewed by ten different people. This thorough selection process made me truly proud to form part of this organization. Contrary to many other groups on campus, my peers were not involved for some superficial resume-building cause. Instead, their eagerness illustrated how ReadySetLaunch makes greats strides to have a positive impact on each student’s life.
Most high school students accepted into ReadySetLaunch are deserving of admission in a quality public college, but are not receiving sufficient help from either their schools or families to succeed in the increasingly complex college admissions process. For example, the guidance counselor of one partner school frustratingly wrote identical recommendation letters for all eight students that applied from that school. This only goes to show how the students tend to greatly benefit from the guidance and support of concerned mentors.
One thing I found particularly exciting was the diversity of the applicants. On the one hand, many of the high school students involved in ReadySetLaunch have stood out in their high school. Two applicants were involved with the school student council and one was an editor for a student publication. There were also several applicants who demonstrated their dedication to theater or art. It was great to see already that many had already taken the initiative to seek out schools suited to their particular interest. On the other hand, many of the applicants came from poor financial circumstances and were unable to participate as extensively in school life because they either needed to work after school to contribute to family income, take care of younger siblings or sick parents. The life stories of the students came out in their short essays they wrote as part of their application, allowing our mentors to pair themselves up with students they felt they would be able to personally connect with.
I was not the only first-timer at the application review session. The experience had a similar impact on many of the other new members. For Caroline Warner, a freshman at Yale, the review session made her even more excited to begin working with her newly assigned student. “It was amazing how I instantly connected with the background of the student I will begin helping come spring. I think my own experiences in high school will be extremely relevant as we both have keen interest in politics and international relations. I can’t wait to start!”
Blog, ReadySetLaunch
ReadySetLaunch is part of a bigger movement
posted from
An article posted recently on the CNN website shows how ReadySetLaunch forms part of a growing movement of online mentoring. Organizations like I Could Be, Infinite Family and MentorNet mirror the work of ReadySetLaunch by using online tools to provide guidance for those coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The obvious benefit of ‘e-mentoring’ is that it allows students who live in places where there is a lack of resources to be reached. Infinite Family connects children in South Africa who have lost their parents to HIV or AIDS with mentors from across the world. I Could Be is able to help teenagers from hundreds of different schools with career advising and college counseling. Similarly, ReadySetLaunch steers ambitious high school students from financially deprived families through the complex college application process, providing tailored individual support for each student.
It is no surprise that online mentoring is catching on. Through social networking, communication across the internet has become fundamental to how we interact with one another. Facebook and Twitter have gained such influence that they have even facilitated recent social revolutions across the world. Therefore, these organizations reflect the new patterns of communication in our digital age by creating a cost-efficient, viable and timely method for mentoring.
ReadySetLaunch
ReadySetLaunch Helping To Guide High School Seniors Across Country Through College Application Process
posted from yale.edu
With guidance from Yale sophomore Margaret Greenberg, high school junior Christina Lee has been thinking well in advance about the college application process she’ll undertake next year.
Lee, a native of South Korea who lives in San Antonio, Texas, and Greenberg have discussed everything from when to schedule standardized tests such as the SAT, to how to get teacher recommendations, to which colleges might be a good match for her.
But in their regular e-mail conversations and occasional phone calls, Greenberg says, the best advice she gives Lee is “to remind her to take a deep breath every once in awhile.”
ReadySetLaunch
Yalies help launch college candidates
posted from newhavenregister.com
Preparing to apply for college can be a daunting task, and an organization founded by Yale University students is helping high schoolers get through it.
Recently, ReadySetLaunch received a $62,000 grant through Chase Community Giving, competing in a field of more than 500,000 registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.
“We’re in a unique position,” said Jim Liu, executive director of ReadySetLaunch who is a Yale sophomore. “Usually, small nonprofits that are only a year-and-a-half old like ours don’t get grants such as this.”