GREENWICH, Conn. (AP) - When a young woman whose parents never completed high school got into Cornell University this spring, she wept with surprise and joy.
It was also a noisy day in Greenwich, where two “coaches” who helped guide her through the college-application process were celebrating her success.
“I started screaming, from one end of the house to the other,” recalled Cristina Ceballos, who along with another Greenwich resident, Cynthia Chang, spent dozens of hours guiding Erika Yupangui, a Port Chester High School senior, to the gates of the Ivy League. Erika was coached for college through an expanding program at the Don Bosco Community Center, a social-services and educational non-profit in Port Chester.
The Don Bosco college program takes kids like Erika, who have little family connections to higher education, and helps put them on a college track. Begun in 2015, it has helped numerous students get coached for the college-admissions process, 17 this past year. Erika was the first to gain acceptance into an Ivy League school.
Ceballos and Chang have been working with Erika since last spring, while she received test-prep services and enhanced instruction from educators working through the Don Bosco Center. The two coaches spoke by phone at least twice and week with Erika and met once a week in person - and there were countless emails.
The coaches set up a calendar, discussed which schools to apply to, worked out college visits, ran through mock interviews and made sure more than a half-dozen essays by Erika were completed. They did not re-write essays, they noted, just made sure they were done. Erika got a relative to drive her to a number of college campuses for on-site visits and interviews.
She fell in love with Cornell; it was on top of her list. But being pragmatic, as the Don Bosco program advises, she applied to 20 schools - many of them in the State University of New York system.
Chang, who has coached a number of other students through other programs, said she felt many people in Greenwich could offer that kind of assistance. “They have so much knowledge and experience and know-how. We need people to step up,” she said.
She noted much cynicism has arisen around the recent college-cheating scandal, in which parents paid bribes to gain entry into selective colleges or inflate test scores, so it was a particularly welcome validation to see a young person get into a good college through hard work and dedication.
Chang and Ceballos are both mothers who have raised academically successful kids, and it gave them a sense that they could do more for others who have had fewer resources in life. “Our kids had all the benefits and advantages. And here’s someone who is absolutely driven, and qualified, to get the same education our kids did. Why not give her that chance?” Chang said.
Said Ceballos, “It feels good to give back.”
The college process was a daunting one for Erika. “Since I’m the first in my family, I was afraid I wouldn’t get in,” she recalled. “I am really grateful for the support.”
Erika recalled the moment in late March when she opened up the Cornell admissions digital site on her cell phone to find out if she’d been accepted. She saw the word “congratulations.” That was as far as she got.
“I was really shocked,” she said, “I didn’t read anything else, I just started crying.” She had to get her brother, Christian, to read the entire letter to make sure there was no mistake, that she had indeed been accepted to Cornell.
That night she could barely sleep. “My heart was racing,” she said.
Erika, 17, is looking to study biology at the scenic college in Ithaca, N.Y. The life-science program there seemed like a good fit for her goals. The high school senior works a part-time job in a shoe store, and she also volunteers working with youngsters. She likes dancing, baking and hanging out with friends in her spare time, she’s looking to join a Latin-flavored dance group at Cornell.
Neither of her parents made it through high school in their native land of Ecuador. Her mother, Julia Sigua, is a house-cleaner in Port Chester and always told her daughter to gain an education for wider opportunities in life. “Aim for the moon,” was a family mantra she heard over and over, Erika said: “She wanted me to have the opportunities she never had.”
The Don Bosco program has 26 coaches, who typically work in pairs. There are 10 from Greenwich.
Ann Heekin, the executive director at Don Bosco, said the coaches get a lot from the program. “It’s transformational on both sides,” she said. “There’s something really gratifying, helping someone reach their potential, who otherwise might not just because they don’t have access.”
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Information from: Connecticut Post, http://www.connpost.com
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