Program Goals
Within the landscape of educational inequity, EXCEL @ NYU has successfully built a program model committed to holistically supporting New York City’s underserved youth by addressing various obstacles to their educational success, increasing their access to college, and developing the skills they need to ensure they are prepared for
postsecondary education.
The overall goals of the program are as follows:
- Offer motivated high school students from the South Bronx the chance to immerse themselves in a college setting, facilitating a sense of both academic and social belonging to an institution of higher learning;
- Instil within students the value of a liberal arts education;
- Provide participants with college mentors to offer support and guidance;
- Expand students’ professional and academic networks;
- Assist youth in researching and evaluating various colleges and university programs in order to generate lists of schools that best suit their needs and interests; and
- Provide students with the opportunity to gain exposure to college-level coursework and earn high school elective credits.
Holistic Support
EXCEL youth have complex, multi-pronged needs related to poverty. Children’s Aid is uniquely positioned to address the challenges this population faces on their path to educational success. The agency utilizes a holistic approach built around four focus areas:
- Academic achievement
- Social emotional development
- Health and wellness
- Safe and Supportive homes.
Focusing on these essential domains ensures that youth receive the supports they need to thrive and complements the educational aspect of the program. FLH youth in the program can access wraparound programming at Children’s Aid’s nearby Bronx Health Center, such as behavioral health services and counseling, dental and medical services, foster care education and services, and health education. Additionally, the College Coach connects youth in the program to relevant specific assistance to address acute needs that may arise during their participation in the program, such as hunger or homelessness, ensuring youth show up to EXCEL@NYU safe, healthy, and ready to learn. As discussed above, the College Coach and other Children’s Aid staff also support youth throughout their college careers by connecting them to relevant resources while teaching them how to successfully advocate for themselves and their needs.
Our Programs
EXCEL Summer Programs
Every summer, NYU EXCEL Academy admits a new cohort into their summer program. The program is designed to empower students by giving them the skills, knowledge and access they need to apply for college. Through intensive in-class trainings, our aim is to develop their writing, communications and leadership skills.
Freedom Friday
On the last Friday of every month, we meet with students from our program to teach them practical strategies for college applications while giving them access to tools that will help them thrive.
Radical futures project
The Radical Futures Project challenges students to work critically around a social justice issue they are passionate about. They are guided through writing a rigorous research essay, alongside professional presentation of their work through round table discussion panels, and creative expressions.
Freedom Friday
To continue momentum for participants of the intensive summer programming and provide students with exposure to the collegiate experience, youth participate in uptown/downtown exchanges that take place uptown at FLH and downtown at NYU throughout the school year. Exchanges, also known as Freedom Fridays, occur on a monthly basis, and are made up of cultural outings, seminars, writing exercises, meals, and introductions to college life such as campus tours, with all student costs covered by the program. During the academic year, these exchanges occur from 10am-2pm each Friday, as an extended learning opportunity built into Fannie Lou Hamer’s academic model.
Downtown Exchanges are led on NYU’s campus, providing experiential learning opportunities and interdisciplinary coursework through which students develop critical thinking skills and practice speaking, writing, and collaborative group work. Uptown Exchanges at FLH are designed to ensure students are equipped with the practical competencies they need to negotiate college life and earn their degree; Children’s Aid staff facilitate programming centered on college awareness and preparedness, stressing for youth the importance of higher education, teaching what it means to be prepared for college, and providing opportunities for students to explore different higher education options.
EXCEL Summer Program
In EXCEL Academy @ NYU, rising juniors are introduced to the rigorous and theoretical basis of college coursework. As one of the main components of EXCEL @ NYU is the opportunity for students to be immersed in an academic setting at an acclaimed university, the program aims to provide students with opportunities to engage in the academic college experience, learn about and choose future areas of study, and gain a deeper understanding of the diverse uses of a liberal arts education.
The summer curriculum culminates with the Radical Futures Research and Action Project, in which youth work in groups to identify a social issue, conduct research, and present solutions to an audience of researchers and community members. EXCEL Academy @ NYU includes courses on topics such as humanities, psychology, sociology, and culture, designed to promote literacy and offer students greater exposure to liberal arts.
Radical Futures Project
The Radical Futures project addresses the pressing need for reciprocal engagement, representation and opportunities for people of color to build community generationally. Given the nature of structural poverty, residential segregation and economic isolation, communities of color face the burden of constant disinvestment. People of color are victims of structural disenfranchisement but are tagged by negative stereotypes as responsible for their own victimhood. The project is foundationally rooted in encouraging people who have been historically silenced to tell their own stories in order to combat their own oppression.
Through storytelling, they are better able to see themselves outside of the social prescriptions, and the use of technology allows for greater proliferation of narratives on race, class and gender. This project also aims to build reciprocal community amongst people of color, across generational divides and through boundaries of space and mindset, by creating a unifying purpose for similar yet separated populations to interact.
College Campus Exposure and Access
Central to the goals of EXCEL @ NYU is demystifying college for participants and enabling them to envision themselves succeeding both academically and socially in higher education. To this end, campus exposure and access is built into all aspects of the program and promotes participants’ sense of belonging on a college campus; throughout the program, students are provided a toolkit of resources and are expected to perform as college students. Students participate in campus visits, including learning about databases and online resources at the library, and a formal campus tour to orient them with available resources such as technology, software, printing, and copying. All EXCEL @ NYU students are processed into the NYU system as if they were matriculating students and are provided with an NYU identification card that allows them to access many NYU buildings, including Bobst Library.
College Knowledge-Building for Students and Families
Student Success Center and College Coaching
To support the many EXCEL @ NYU participants who are the first in their families to consider college, FLH’s Student Success Center (SSC) exists as a full-service, drop-in center that operates Monday-Friday from 9am-5pm where students can access a network of support and resources throughout their college exploration process. SSC provides one-on-one financial aid advising, scholarship information, job and career preparation, tutoring and academic support, P/SAT and ACT prep, youth leadership development, and access to computers and library resources. SSC also facilitates campus tours, parent engagement events, and Alumni Day, a day when students who have gone through EXCEL@NYU and successfully matriculated to college share their successes, challenges, and insights with current program participants.
College Persistence and Financial Support
To further support EXCEL youth in their transition to college, we have recently begun to revisit the college persistence aspect of this program. Program alumni return in January each year to celebrate Alumni Student Day, which includes panels and other activities. Our college persistence staff members also keep in contact with alumni to offer support as needed. For the next program cycle, there will be a greater emphasis on tracking and analyzing the college persistence rates of EXCEL alumni to determine the program’s role in helping students achieve post-secondary success.
In addition, all program participants will be eligible for the Children’s Aid Scholarship Program which provides over $300,000 in financial assistance to more than 175 graduating seniors and college students each year. Scholarship recipients are also provided one-on-one advising and career exploration opportunities, such as workshops and networking events. Each recipient receives $2,000-$5,000 per year in renewable scholarships.
EXCEL Academy has helped me grow mentally and intellectually.