June 19, 2025 • 4 mins
Anthony Byers, Executive Director of Hartford Youth Scholars, joins us live from the Travelers Championship. Hartford Youth Scholars is a college access and success program that has been serving Hartford students for 20 years. Their mission is to help students from Hartford not only get into college, but graduate and go on to thrive in their careers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning. I'm Allison de Murz. I'm at the Travelers
(00:02):
Championship in Cromwell. My guest today is Anthony Buyers. He
is executive director of Hartford Youth Scholars.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, good morning, good morning. It's great to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Thank you so much. For people who don't know about
Hartford Youth Scholars. What is it all about? How did
it all come about?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Awesome? So we've been around for twenty years. It's a
special year for Hertford Youth Scholars and we're College Access
and Success program right out of heart. Programs are run
out of Trinity and CCSU, and our goal is to
get Hertford students to and through college.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And how do you do that?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So we start off with a selective admissions process where
we're finding students as early as sixth grade and we're
providing support for those students until they graduate from college.
The first thing that they engage in, which actually starts
up for us on Monday, is what we call the
Collegiate Academy. So they'll come for academic enrichment for five
weeks during the summer where they work really hard and
(00:55):
we support them through the high school selection process, support
them so at whatever high school they go to, through
the college admissions process and on their career search as well.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Wow college, Yeah, that's amazing over the summer, so that
when they go in September they're ready to go to go.
Tell me what kind of impact has it had without
giving maybe names, personal impact.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, I mean we're we're fortunate that we get, you know,
to have a really direct impact on our students. We
work with very small cohorts of scholars, so we meet
our students exactly where they are, and there's been so
many different ways that we've intervened in their lives, you know,
from the tactical things around college admissions, college tours, college planning,
(01:45):
boot camp s a t prep, but even some of
the more soft things, right like transitioning to you know,
independent high school, a private high school, and like that's
a completely different world for a heart Ford student, and
so not making sure that they're prepared academically, but also
making sure that they're adjusting to these spaces social emotionally
(02:06):
as well. So you know, we try to, I mean,
we're intentional about the scale of our program so that
we can step in and be a support to students
to whatever those barriers might be to you know, get
to and through college.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
But the students must feel grateful and their self esteem
is increased, and I'm sure they must come back and
thank you and maybe even serve and help.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
It was it was an amazing event that we just
had this past Saturday. We had a birthday party because
we're celebrating twenty years and and all of our scholars
came back. And you know, one of our overarching visions
was that students would come back and you know, want
to live in Hartford and you know, raise their families
in Hertford, and you know, so our ability to kind
(02:51):
of connect not only just prepare students, but also connect
them to the community to see that they can make
an impact. You know, it's it's been really cool to
have ten cohorts of college graduates that have come back
in a variety of different ways. I mean, we have
some students that are donors. But the coolest thing is
that my entire high school and college Success team is
(03:14):
run by alumni scholars.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
It isn't a beautiful it's so cool. You put your
head on the pillow at night and think, wow, we're
really making a difference. It's happening changing lives for the better. Yes,
do you have an event coming off?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yes? So you know, like I keep mentioning that, you know,
we're celebrating twenty years. So on September eighteenth, we'll be
having our hys at twenty event over at Hartford Golf Club.
Invitations are around and circulating. Would love the support from
the community to be there and celebrate these young people
that are committed to making a change in the city.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So if you go to Hartford Youth Scholars dot org
you can participate with British for Charity where every dollar
they raise Webster Bank's going to give them fifteen cents.
You can also go to Travelers Championship dot com. You
can also go to their web site if you'd like
to volunteer besides make a donation, sponsor find out what
they're all about. I'm speaking with Anthony Byer's, executive director
(04:09):
of Hartford Youth Scholars. Thank you so much for being
here today and for serving the community.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Awesome. It was great to be here. Thanks for having
me
Good morning. I'm Allison de Murz. I'm at the Travelers
(00:02):
Championship in Cromwell. My guest today is Anthony Buyers. He
is executive director of Hartford Youth Scholars.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, good morning, good morning. It's great to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Thank you so much. For people who don't know about
Hartford Youth Scholars. What is it all about? How did
it all come about?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Awesome? So we've been around for twenty years. It's a
special year for Hertford Youth Scholars and we're College Access
and Success program right out of heart. Programs are run
out of Trinity and CCSU, and our goal is to
get Hertford students to and through college.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
And how do you do that?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So we start off with a selective admissions process where
we're finding students as early as sixth grade and we're
providing support for those students until they graduate from college.
The first thing that they engage in, which actually starts
up for us on Monday, is what we call the
Collegiate Academy. So they'll come for academic enrichment for five
weeks during the summer where they work really hard and
(00:55):
we support them through the high school selection process, support
them so at whatever high school they go to, through
the college admissions process and on their career search as well.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
Wow college, Yeah, that's amazing over the summer, so that
when they go in September they're ready to go to go.
Tell me what kind of impact has it had without
giving maybe names, personal impact.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, I mean we're we're fortunate that we get, you know,
to have a really direct impact on our students. We
work with very small cohorts of scholars, so we meet
our students exactly where they are, and there's been so
many different ways that we've intervened in their lives, you know,
from the tactical things around college admissions, college tours, college planning,
(01:45):
boot camp s a t prep, but even some of
the more soft things, right like transitioning to you know,
independent high school, a private high school, and like that's
a completely different world for a heart Ford student, and
so not making sure that they're prepared academically, but also
making sure that they're adjusting to these spaces social emotionally
(02:06):
as well. So you know, we try to, I mean,
we're intentional about the scale of our program so that
we can step in and be a support to students
to whatever those barriers might be to you know, get
to and through college.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
But the students must feel grateful and their self esteem
is increased, and I'm sure they must come back and
thank you and maybe even serve and help.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
It was it was an amazing event that we just
had this past Saturday. We had a birthday party because
we're celebrating twenty years and and all of our scholars
came back. And you know, one of our overarching visions
was that students would come back and you know, want
to live in Hartford and you know, raise their families
in Hertford, and you know, so our ability to kind
(02:51):
of connect not only just prepare students, but also connect
them to the community to see that they can make
an impact. You know, it's it's been really cool to
have ten cohorts of college graduates that have come back
in a variety of different ways. I mean, we have
some students that are donors. But the coolest thing is
that my entire high school and college Success team is
(03:14):
run by alumni scholars.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
It isn't a beautiful it's so cool. You put your
head on the pillow at night and think, wow, we're
really making a difference. It's happening changing lives for the better. Yes,
do you have an event coming off?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yes? So you know, like I keep mentioning that, you know,
we're celebrating twenty years. So on September eighteenth, we'll be
having our hys at twenty event over at Hartford Golf Club.
Invitations are around and circulating. Would love the support from
the community to be there and celebrate these young people
that are committed to making a change in the city.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So if you go to Hartford Youth Scholars dot org
you can participate with British for Charity where every dollar
they raise Webster Bank's going to give them fifteen cents.
You can also go to Travelers Championship dot com. You
can also go to their web site if you'd like
to volunteer besides make a donation, sponsor find out what
they're all about. I'm speaking with Anthony Byer's, executive director
(04:09):
of Hartford Youth Scholars. Thank you so much for being
here today and for serving the community.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Awesome. It was great to be here. Thanks for having
me
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