Volunteer Voices

Mary Ann Fastook, College Planning Volunteer

As a College Planning volunteer, I walk to the Brooklyn International School every week to help high school kids apply to college. This high school is for foreign-born students, so, of course there are language difficulties. These emerge particularly when writing essays. Essays aren’t that easy to write to begin with, but writing one that showcases your voice so the college can get to know who you are is even more difficult if English isn’t your native language.

Many students have a hard time getting started and I tell them to just start, they can always fix it later. It often takes several drafts until a student really writes the essay he or she will submit. Many try to write in a way that they think the college expects them to write, but I tell them to reveal to the college who they really are and what they are about. I also tell them that they don’t have to have decided everything in their life, but to let the college know what they have thought about.

But more than just the applying process, is the necessity to get students to make choices and get things done, because many are afraid of making a mistake and of not being accepted. For the majority of these students, they will be the first ones in their families to go to college, so it’s very thrilling to them but also very scary. One week I had two girls who were both from Haiti making out their Common Applications and when we finished, they started to talk about how their families weren’t very supportive. One girl said that her family cared only about children going out to work so they could pay their bills; the other girl felt that her parents would probably agree to her going if she could pay for it but would not want her to live away from home. Still, after I worked with them, both girls applied to some schools nearby. 

For me, there is no greater investment than helping a young person achieve his/or goal or if they aren’t sure, helping them develop a goal. So Learning Leaders has given me the chance to do something I really love again and I am very grateful for that.

I think that this is a wonderful program that has much to offer both to those who are helped and to those who help.