Elyssa Pachico’s Sept. 14 article “Privileging the Privileged” highlighted the sticky web of issues that students from low-income areas face when applying to colleges. Toni Martello’s quoted comment that her “guidance counselors weren’t pushing college” particularly struck me as a sad and all too true commentary on an overloaded system. On average, the student-to-guidance-counselor ratio at a public high school in a low-income area is an astounding 740:1. Navigating the admissions labyrinth is tough, especially for first-generation college students who don’t have the benefit of family members who have already gone through it.
What I want to add to Ms. Pachico’s article is this: you can do something about this problem. Wesleyan’s Let’s Get Ready program is a student-run organization that provides college counseling and SAT prep to juniors and seniors in the Middletown and Meriden area. By choosing to become a tutor, you will motivate and guide students who might otherwise be drowned in a maze of test scores, applications, essays, and stacks of FAFSA paperwork. You can help close the achievement gap in a very concrete way.
To apply, go to letsgetready.org/programs/Wesleyan and complete the application by this Friday, Sept. 21. For more information, you can e-mail us at We*********@***il.com.
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