I remember the fights my mother and I had about my college applications. My father had died just a few months before; his absence was everywhere, but we never talked about it. Instead, she picked at the adjectives; she suggested different topics. I left a pile of applications with my typewriter at the far end of the kitchen table, and when I came home she was writing comments with a red pen. The smell of her Kent cigarettes lingered after I typed the essays and finally mailed them in.
In 2009 my son Zachary, a sophomore at Princeton, said, “Mom, if you combined the storytelling work you are doing now with the work you’ve always done helping kids with their college application essays, you could help students advocate for themselves in college applications, interviews, and all of life.” With support from the City University of New York, we developed pilot courses to support high school students from diverse backgrounds and schools craft more powerful college applications essays.
Thank you for helping us to bring Story To College to your schools and community organizations, so every young person learns to tell their own story powerfully and authentically in their own voice.
Carol Barash, PhD
Founder and CEO
