By Sebatian Ward, ICN Student Correspondent
A group of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (“BIPOC”) high school students across the New Haven area were initially intimidated by the daunting process of college applications, especially after the abolition of affirmative action. Together, they have united and formed an organization called College Bound BIPOC Students Alliance (CBBSA) to help them and other BIPOC students find free college advisory resources.
CBBSA is a community based organization that guides grade 6-12 and gap year BIPOC students to free college advisory and preparation programs. These include academic enrichment programs, free SAT test prep/boot camps and academic tutoring, college essay and college supplements support, internships, fellowships, mentorships and entrepreneurship programs.
“CBBSA recognized my ambitions and provided a tremendous amount of guidance to me.” said Aleisha Luna, a junior at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School, during an interview with the CBBSA leaders. “Not only did they further my desire to attend college, but they eased all of the growing doubts and struggles I was facing with the search for financial aid, scholarships, and grants.”
CBBSA’s efforts have begun to pick up significant traction around the New Haven area. While interviewing their Vice President, Jonas Ward, he discussed some of CBBSA’s recent initiatives.
“In 2021, CBBSA created and facilitated student panel college information sessions in New Haven at St. Martin de Porres Academy and Horizons at Foote School. Most recently, we co-hosted a series of virtual college information workshops with the assistance of Ms. Katherine Viera, the former Co-Chair of Yale Latino Networking Group.” These information workshops have received support from various affinity groups at Yale University, and even national organizations such as the Ron Brown Scholar Program, Ron Brown Guided Pathway Support College Board, Questbridge, Schoolhouse, and Matriculate.
In 2023, Jonas and his brother Tristan, the president and co-founder of CBBSA who is currently a freshman at Brown University, decided to pivot from CBBSA’s initial direction based upon what they observed and experienced up to that point. It had become clear to them that the long term project would require an influx of college bound students working with them in the short term. The plan was for these students to become youth leaders themselves, both in their schools and within their home communities. Students from their school, who were aware of CBBSA and needed support beyond what was provided by their schools and families, led to the organic development of the six students becoming CBBSA Leaders-In-Training.
“Our new direction after this development was to find organizations that were open to allowing students of color the opportunity to have a leadership position within their organization.” said Jonas. “This placement component has now become a fundamental part of CBBSA’s mission. We seek leadership positions in organizations that provide services to the youth in the New Haven area and ensure that youth leaders are seated at the decision making table where they are seen, heard, valued and respected.”
In addition to placing students in positions of leadership in local organizations, CBBSA also works to find free opportunities for their members to take advantage of. The Leaders-In-Training discussed some of these opportunities in a recent interview.
“I was able to learn about the City of New Haven Youth Commission and I was appointed as a youth Commissioner” said Angelo Sevilla, a senior at New Haven Academy. “I got into a three week summer program at NYU and was able to receive a recommendation letter from a professor there. I also learned about college fly-in programs, and was accepted to the fly-in program at Wesleyan University.”
Aqueelah Irshad, a senior at James Hillhouse High School, also chimed in: “Right now I am an ambassador and member of Hemispheres, a club for high school students run by the Yale International Relations Association. Through that, I was selected to attend Yale Model United Nations Europe (YMUNE), an international Model UN conference in Belgium.” Aqueelah also volunteers at New Haven Reads, a local non-profit that assists students who are reading below grade-level.
In the wake of elite universities requiring SAT scores in college applications, The CBBSA team has also been making a concerted effort to connect their members with SAT preparatory programs.
According to Yael Cervantes-Nava, there are a plethora of programs out there, so students don’t have to figure it all out on their own: “There are many free college advisory and academic tutoring programs designed to help college bound students, more than I could ever have imagined. I worked hard to get good grades, and I did all that I could on my own to prepare for the SATs, but I knew that I needed help to get the results that I desired. In addition to the support that I received from my school, I turned to CBBSA.”
Aleisha Luna, said that, “as a college-bound BIPOC student, I knew that it was ultimately up to me to search out an appropriate path to higher education. She said this was a daunting task coming from “a background within a disadvantaged community and with low expectations concerning higher education.” She highlighted how this task was more difficult while attending a high school that does not focus on college preparation.
“CBBSA is familiar with this issue and understands that I was amongst many in the same predicament.” Aleisha said. Both Aleisha and Yael were directed to free college preparatory services like Higher Heights and Urban Improvement Corporation, and utilized Schoolhouse and Yale Education Tutoring Initiative (YETI) for SAT prep and tutoring resources.
The Leaders-in-training of the first CBBSA cohort all agreed that the program has profoundly affected their trajectory with respect to higher education. “Not only did CBBSA further my desire to attend college, but they eased all of the growing doubts and struggles I was facing with the search for financial aid, scholarships, and grants.” said Aleisha.
The students not only saw a shift in their horizons for college, but also said they each saw areas of personal growth and learning within themselves and as a team. Jameelah Irshad, a gap year student who relocated to New Haven after graduating from high school in Florida, discussed how she has changed over these past eight months: “I have always been a shy person, but with CBBSA, I have learned to get out of my shell and work with others towards a common goal. I am also learning that my voice should always be heard and that I need to be seen, valued and respected wherever I go.”
Azaad, a senior at New Haven Academy followed up on the importance of sharing a common goal with his team members saying “it is gratifying to see the others around me develop just as much… When we aid other team members in their victories, the feeling is shared between all of us.”
Angelo mentioned how his own growth led to some reflection on student support in New Haven. “Being part of CBBSA, I learned that there is a vast network of opportunities available for all students, but that a lack of knowledge remains a barrier to many students from less privileged backgrounds. I believe that public schools can do more to break these barriers in the way that CBBSA helps its members to expand their options.”
Yael agreed with Angelo, and stressed how it important it was to give all students access to important information about the college application process: “Every day, I learn more and take advantage of free opportunities to apply for scholarships, and I would like to share with students like me what I have learned within CBBSA so that all students can reach university successfully and hopefully avoid taking on student loan debt as well.”
Although most of the leaders-in-training have already submitted their college applications for this year, they are not losing any steam. According to Jonas, CBBSA plans to deliver college preparation information sessions this upcoming spring, and they “will be a community collaboration with some of the organizations that supported us in the past.” He encouraged all college bound students in grades 6 through 12 (and their parents/guardians) and all gap year students to email cbbsainfo@gmail.com so they can be notified as soon as the dates, times and locations of sessions or other events are released.
