Growing up, college wasn’t a topic of discussion in 18-year-old Farhiyo Omar’s Boston household. This coming fall, however, Omar will attend Brown University
Omar accredits much of her high school success to Thrive Scholars, a program designed to guide students of color from economically disadvantaged communities through the college process.
“I have to give Thrive Scholars the biggest props for providing me with my College Access Manager,” said Omar. “She was my rock throughout this whole process.”
Thrive Scholars provides each of their 200 scholars with a College Access Manager. This professional guidance allows the selected scholars to “even the playing field” and feel “more secure” throughout the college admission process. Thrive Scholar’s college counseling programming includes application strategy, writing letters of recommendation, assistance with personal statements and supplemental essays and conducting individual meetings with students and families.
Aside from academic guidance, 18-year-old Thrive Scholar and incoming freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, Yarelin Baez, said the student environment was the best part of the program.
“I’ve never been surrounded by such intellectual, like-minded people…Everyone is so supportive and just genuinely proud of each other. We all just want to see each other succeed,” Baez said.
Baez and Omar are in their second year of Thrive Scholar’s Six-Year Program. Last year, Baez and Omar attended a six-week residential summer program at Amherst College, where they received over 230 hours of math and English instruction from college professors and one-on-one college mentoring. This year, Baez and Omar are at a six-week residential summer program at Northwestern University. Traditionally, the second year of this program takes place at the University of Chicago. Due to safety reasons, Northwestern University decided to house and educate this Thrive Scholar cohort. Thrive Scholar and incoming freshman at Brown University, Victor Awofeso, appreciated the diverse levels of classes that Northwestern University offered.
“It’s really nice because here at Northwestern, they offer a bunch of different levels…I love that I can take a basic-ish math class and focus more on the complex humanities,” Awofeso said.
This summer at Northwestern University concludes the residential programming for Thrive Scholars. The next four years of the program focuses on career development and success within each scholar’s respective college. Awofeso, Omar and Baez are sad to not have more residential programming with their cohort, but they are excited to see their peers thrive in collegiate academic environments.
“I’m going to miss them,” said Omar. “But I know that we are going to thrive and continue to defy the odds.”
