Today was the second time we spent almost half the school day in Ms. Sugimoto’s Los Angeles School of Global Studies classroom. We picked up from last Friday with 826LA’s own Caroline Liou at the helm for part of the time. A student at Rhode Island School of Design, Caroline recently joined us for an internship with chances to help kids get into her own college (and many others).
Thanks to amazing volunteers, including our fearless intern and jill-of-all-trades Caroline, we act as skilled adult support in local high schools.
“Personal statements are my favorite 826LA project I’ve participated in,” Caroline says. “It’s so rewarding to be able to help these high school seniors with part of their application process. It’s also rewarding just listening to the stories they have to offer.”
Last week, senior Sara had a powerful but sometimes less-than-coherent assortment of paragraphs about maintaining self-esteem in the face of discouragement. This time around, her narrative was strong enough to let the visiting 826LA team focus on her grammar. Last week, aspiring neuroscientist Jackie was insecure about the quality of her writing. This week, tutors were able to show her where its strengths shone, and where there were weaknesses, too.
“This week, we were able to work with the same students from the previous session,” Caroline reports, “and the best part about that was seeing how they took our comments to improve their essays! I’m excited for the next round of personal statement tutoring to see even more progression.”
Next week, we continue personal statement editing work at Venice High School and Santee Education Complex near the historic boundaries of South Central. With individuals like Caroline, we know we’ll be bringing our personal best to the classroom.
