A mind expanded cannot return to its original form. This powerful principle shapes the transformative work Esteban and his team at Summer Discovery accomplish through their pre-college programs across universities nationwide.
At first glance, summer might seem like a break from education, but Esteban reveals it's actually an essential opportunity for personal growth. When students step outside their familiar environments – away from neighborhood pressures, family dynamics, and academic competition – they discover who they truly are. These residential programs create space for authentic leadership development as students manage projects, negotiate with roommates, handle their own finances, and make independent decisions.
The magic happens when students from diverse backgrounds – scholarship recipients, international students, and those from varying socioeconomic circumstances – come together with a shared human desire: discovering their identity and place in the world. Whether attending prestigious institutions like Georgetown, UCLA, or Cornell, participants gain clarity not just about potential college paths, but about themselves.
What distinguishes these programs is their holistic approach. Rather than focusing solely on academic preparation, they help students develop crucial life skills. For first-generation college hopefuls, this might mean demystifying applications and financial aid. For others, it's about challenging assumptions about where they "should" attend. The goal remains consistent: helping each student find their authentic fit.
Esteban's personal journey through Upward Bound programs to his current leadership role illustrates the lasting impact of mentorship. Teachers who recognized his potential, community members who encouraged him at bus stops, and counselors who pushed him beyond comfort zones all shaped his trajectory. Now he advocates for more adults to step into mentoring roles, seeing technology as a tool rather than an obstacle in connecting with youth.
Ready to make a difference? Volunteer in your community. Work with youth. Become the person who sees potential in a student before they recognize it themselves. As Esteban reminds us, if society isn't moving in the right direction, we must ask: are we truly seeing and hearing our youth?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Countdown.
Well, super excited to behaving this conversation with
you all and, of course, topartner with a behalf of grad
gov, ideagen, who is doingamazing work to tell really
impactful stories as part oftheir Future Us Summit, and so
(00:28):
super excited to have Estebanand Quincy here to talk a little
bit more about some of theconversations that we've been
having off camera, but more sobringing in mentorship, which I
know is a huge piece for both ofus both of you all, as well as
some of the work that you'redoing pre-post-secondary
education.
So I really want to take thetime to first invite you in,
(00:49):
quincy, to talk a little bitabout that mentorship piece and
what that truly means in termsof innovation, the future of
right, but also how can we be apart of that?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, so I'm a product of a great mentor
relationship.
Early in my life, growing up ina part of the state of Texas
where I didn't have many peopleto look up to, there was there's
a guy who put me in touch withan organization that allowed me
(01:20):
to see outside my community, andonce I saw that I was able to
at least visualize where I couldbe, and that's very different
than reading about differentplaces.
And so eventually that's led mehere to washington dc and here
with esteban, who's got asimilar program, and I'd say
(01:41):
let's start by asking esteban,just describe the organization
that you're a part of and what'syour vision of why you're doing
what you're doing?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Well, I've been with Summer Discovery since 2019 and
we're working with universitiesaround the country, the UK and
Spain, to provide residentialpre-college programs for
majority high school students.
We have some middle school andin the tri-state area New York,
jersey, connecticut we have someday programs for 5th, 6th, 7th,
(02:17):
8th grade and even in 1st gradeand 2nd grade as well.
So we kind of expand that gamut.
Last year had an impact withalmost 15,000 students.
I think this year we're lookingto have a little bit more.
We just started our programs acouple of weeks ago.
But I've also done this workpre-Summer Discovery and really
(02:39):
it's this work of understandingthat summer is this amazing time
for students just to figure outwho they are, get away from the
noise of the neighborhood, getaway from the noise of siblings
and parents.
You know there's pressures thatyou have during the academic
year.
Everybody's kind of doing thisthing, everybody's wearing this
thing, everybody is vying forthe same school that they're
(03:01):
applying to.
When you kind of get out ofthat environment, environment,
you get to be a new person, youto be in situations where you're
figuring out your leadershipstyles, your leadership skills.
Here's the discovery exactly,exactly exactly, and and that
that discovery of yourself, yeah, this is so important because
(03:22):
when you're in a program thatsays you're in charge of this
team and here's your projectmaybe you don't have that during
the academic year, wherethey're just saying we have this
test at the end of the year,we're going to prepare you for
that During the summer.
You get to be a leader Duringthe summer.
You have to negotiate with yourroommate During the summer.
Maybe your parents only gaveyou so much money and by the
(03:44):
third day you're like I spenthalf.
How do I figure this out?
So you're learning things aboutyourself you may not have in
that traditional academicsetting.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
So we'll talk maybe about the institutions that that
you support and get these youthinto those institutions, but
maybe more important than kindof where they're going is how
they see themselves.
So you spoke of you know, let'stalk about a little bit what
you just said and given studentsa chance to simulate various
roles they may have in a waythat gets them outside of their
(04:16):
you know, their friend zone.
So are these students able toyou know what are the different
types of roles that they canplay?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Well, I mean, some of the roles are very specific.
You're in Class A and maybethis class is about
international relations, ormaybe this class is about
pre-law and you're assigned aproject and you're going to be
in charge of this project andyou're going to make sure that
your team comes to the last dayof the program and presents
their pitch, just kind of as anuance.
(04:47):
But there's other rules thatare not assigned.
You're in charge of figuringout what are you going to do
during free time with some ofyour friends between 6 and 8 pm
Crucial time.
Knowing that you have rules aswell, you can't leave this part
of campus, you're not allowed togo to this part of the city,
you know?
And how do you negotiate that?
So that's a rule.
(05:07):
That's maybe not part of theclass, but you have to figure
that out, you know.
And somebody says, oh no, well,let's, we can go across the
street, we can go to that partof the city.
You're like no, you can't.
You're taking on a role, aleadership role, or you're
negotiating, you know, with aroommate, or you're trying to
really just figure out.
I have no clean clothes.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Do I go on?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
this excursion right now, or do I actually stay back
and go to the laundromat in thebasement and wash my clothes?
It changes very much becausemom's not doing that for you and
so those are new roles that youtake on.
But you combine that with theacademic experience that you
have, you really leave adifferent person, more mature,
(05:48):
more understanding.
That here's who I am, and I hadto make decisions.
That may be my normal academicyear, or because mom and dad are
waking me up every day anddriving me around all of my
activities.
I didn't have that this summer.
I was on my own and I had tofigure some things out, and now
I'm leaving this program with alittle bit more autonomy, a
(06:09):
little bit more maturity andfiguring out that.
You know, I don't want mom toknow that I can do laundry now.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
One of the things that Quincy and I both
appreciate we're both Hoyas,Georgetown University and, as I
mentioned before, I serve as theExecutive Vice President for
the Graduate Student Governmentand one of the things that we
prioritize for students is howdo we not only develop them as a
good student right, which itsounds like you are as well but
(06:36):
how do we develop them as thewhole person, the sense of Cura
personality.
You've heard us before and youknow what has so much resonance
and makes your story so powerfulabout what you're doing and
transforming not just thetrajectory of these students but
their lives right in terms ofleadership development,
professional development,academic scholarship, all these
(06:56):
other things.
Can you talk a little bit about?
You know how you first got tosome of this work right and
thinking about, because you knowyou, you've been doing this.
This is your first rodeo.
You started 2019 with thisorganization, but you've been
building up to this for sometime.
Could you talk a little bitabout how we got to this point
and how that has kind of shapedthe work that you're doing now?
Speaker 3 (07:16):
I would say my first summer program, because I'm
obsessed with summer.
I've been working in summer along time.
It was probably my sophomoreyear in high school.
High school, wow.
And a friend of mine had acheck.
Okay, old school paper, checkOld school check.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Old school paper check.
I just dropped one of them offearlier today.
Yeah, where did you get thatcheck?
They still exist.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
They still exist.
And he says oh, this is astipend that I got for being
part of the Flautown program.
the local community college Idid an up and down program in
Louisiana, so you understand andyou know they entice students
because you know, do I do thisSaturday program with Humber
Bound or do I go and get thisjob?
(07:55):
So instead of doing the job,they're gonna give you a stipend
.
And it's a job because you haveto show up, you have to be
there, and during the summerthey do the same thing as well.
So I was really interested inthat, so I signed up and that
summer they said we're gonnagive you a stipend but you have
to live on campus for as manyweeks.
You have to take these twocourses that are being taught by
(08:16):
a college professor.
And it was in my hometown, butI didn't drive.
How often do I leave the eastside of Stockton?
I was going to a wholedifferent part of town and
living there on this collegecampus which I drove by, but I
never knew what was inside of it, and I was now taking a biology
class and taking a businessclass and really seeing myself
(08:39):
in that environment for thefirst time, being taught by
college professors, and saying Ican do this, I belong here.
That check is now ancillary.
I now understand that there's abigger trajectory, okay, that
if I embrace this, I can changethe trajectory of my life.
That's where I'm gonna go intothe future and start thinking
(09:00):
about careers after high school.
That these options of gettingthe job right.
After high school I could go tocollege good and never thought
about that.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So would you say that you had us an amount of measure
of self-determination in you,that that self-determination
wasn't triggered until you gotoutside of your neighborhood.
And so what does?
What do you think it takestoday to see kids develop that
self-determination?
(09:34):
We grew up in a different area,an era didn't have smartphones,
electronic devices.
I think I had an atari a rotaryphone.
We had one computer in the house.
We had to schedule time withmom.
So kids now are distracted andthat self-determination might be
(09:58):
buried underneath all that.
What does it take for a youthto realize they've got
self-determination.
They can do more.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Well let me preface it with after doing Upward Bound
and, being a student, worked inUpward Bound during my college
years and kind of stayed withinthis and then for a while it was
a lot of access programs likeUpward Bound and TRIO programs,
and then moved into some of theprograms where, working with
(10:24):
universities and at universitieswhere it was a $10,000 price
tag or $6,000 price tag for aprogram, we still had
scholarships, and so that wholetrajectory up until now.
I've worked with students fromall different walks of life.
So students like myself,yourself, where we've done those
Upward Bound programs, orstudents who would not be able
(10:46):
to afford this program without ascholarship, families who are
full-paying and they're goingand they're there, international
students, internationalscholarships, and seeing all of
those different students fromall of those different walks of
life realizing that, on thehuman development level, all
students really want, all thoseyoung people really want, is to
(11:08):
figure out who am I, yeah.
What's my identity?
Where do I fit into this world?
Yeah, and do my ideas?
Are?
They're gonna be able totranslate into a future, but
also, what's the future?
I don't know what the future is, and it's good to be around
other people.
So whether you're talking abouta student, who is, you know,
from the Upper East Side or fromthe Upper West Side in New York
(11:28):
City or from Queens, andthey're doing a program.
It really doesn't matter.
The fact is, on a human level,they're all just trying to
figure out who am I?
Yeah, and we can give them thatspace in these programs are so
important.
Yeah, because the traditionallearning model of the fall and
spring kind of the class from 9am get out at this time helps to
(11:52):
a certain extent.
But this out of class timewhether they're amazing
after-school programs, amazingSaturday programs or making
summer programs are sometimesthought as an extra to the
academic ecosystem.
But what I've learned in thisworld is that Amazing Saturday
programs or Amazing Summerprograms are sometimes thought
as an extra to the academicecosystem.
But what I've learned in thisworld is that it's essential
because that's what helps astudent understand who they are
(12:13):
in these non-traditionalsettings and I think that's what
it gets back to and I thinkit's so important.
I think, sometimes people lookat the organizations who are
working in space after school,saturday programs, summer
programs and they see it asmaybe not the same level as what
the school system is providingin fall and spring.
But I would argue that's justas important because we're
(12:36):
providing that opportunity forthe student to get out of maybe
their comfort zone yeah, leaninto discomfort and figure out
who they are.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Yeah, and it sounds like development of the whole
person.
Cura personalis, curapersonalis, but as you think
about so, we talked a little bitabout the buildup to this
current moment.
We talked a little bit aboutsome of the work that you're
doing presently and we kind ofinched at it a little bit with
(13:05):
Quincy's question question.
But I'd love to go a little bitdeeper and double-click on what
do you see as the future of theeducation space?
Now you have folks that aregraduating with master's degrees
or advanced degrees, and thejob market right now may be
different, right?
Quincy alluded to this, as wellas some of the skills that were
traditional for students.
Right, in terms of theresilience, the resilience, the
grit, all these other things.
Now you have things like AI,you have things like chat, gpt,
(13:26):
you have things like automationand all these sorts of things
that we didn't have growing up.
I remember going looking upstuff in an encyclopedia.
Some people don't know what.
That is, right, it's a verylarge book that has a lot of
words, but you know.
So talk a little bit about whatyou see as the future and as
you prepare young people forthat future, what are some of
the things that you're givingthem as nuggets and tidbits to
(13:46):
help think about how they cansee themselves in the future.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Well, I think it's looking at like things like AI,
and I think there's noise andthere's distraction when we're
talking about AI, just in thesense of, oh, students are going
to use it to cheat, studentsare going to use it to create
something inauthentic and turnthat into a grave, and we hyper
focused on that.
But let's hyper focus on usingit as a tool.
Sure, so, like the encyclopediaexample you just gave, we had
(14:11):
encyclopedias in the house and Isaid, mom, what's Australia?
Where's Australia?
And she was like go look it up,get it, come over here, bring
it over here.
All right, so I'm going to helpyou find it.
And it's here.
I want you to read about it Now.
Go over there and read about itand come back and tell me about
it.
But she taught me how to useencyclopedia, that it was a tool
.
So she wasn't in the house andI wanted to figure out what's
(14:32):
coal mining or what's oil, and Ican go and figure that out.
We have to do the same thingwith AI.
We have to figure out how do wehelp the students understand
this is a tool.
So whether you're going to bethe person who's maybe gonna do
the coding and the machinelearning and the behind the
scenes thing to develop it anddesign it.
Or you're going to be theperson who owns a dance school
(14:55):
and you're gonna figure out howcan I find out who's in my area
to market to so I get more dancestudents.
Is AI a tool that I can use?
They should learn that inschool and they should really
figure out how can I use this asa tool.
And I want to pivot to thatconversation how do we do that
in these non-traditionalsettings to say, let's figure
(15:16):
out what this tool is and how doyou learn it?
So you're learning how to useAI, but you're also have a
different skill set.
How do I take something that'sbrand new, I've never seen
before, and then figure out howto use it as a tool?
And that's a skill set that wecan use, whether it's
encyclopedia or whether it's AI.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
yeah, what I'm hearing is AI and automation and
language learning model toolsare similar to that of something
like social media.
It's not inherently positive,it's not inherently negative,
but it's a tool and, dependingon how you use it and you know,
if you put junk in, you're goingto junk out, but if you put in
a good product, you can get abetter refined product.
(15:56):
Is that what I'm hearing?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
you say yes, yeah, yeah, very much, so, very much
so, and it's just how do you usethe tool that was the
screwdriver wrench?
Yeah, you know compass like howare you using these tools to
achieve your objective and whatyou want to do?
Absolutely you can decide.
Is this a tool I even need forwhatever my passion is?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
and yeah, but at least you know you need to use
it yeah, yeah, um, I want tomaybe take the conversation back
to your relationship with thesestudents and their future.
So you're working with them tomaybe see themselves after high
school, maybe some colleges andwe can talk about.
(16:37):
Maybe some students don't go tocollege, maybe they join the
military or maybe they'reworking at the auto shop, but
for those that want to go tocollege, you're working with
certain colleges.
Which colleges are you workingwith?
And maybe after that there'scertain students who you know.
(16:57):
I'll tell you a story.
Like I talk to high schoolstudents all the time, they'll
watch a Texas Tech game, playPenn State.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
We know who's winning that.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
The Raiders go win that game all day, every day.
When the Raiders win, they'llwant to go to Texas Tech.
That's their first time.
I'll have to have an honestconversation with these students
grades and I go get you intoTexas Tech.
You may need to go somewhereelse first.
You can graduate from Texas.
(17:29):
You can't start.
But so there's a, there's a.
To me, there's a difference inthe students who may feel like
they can go somewhere else butthey may not get there.
So like, what type of studentsare you looking for in your
program to get them to seethemselves in success?
Speaker 3 (17:49):
We're talking about the pre-college space
specifically.
I would say almost all thepre-college programs, the ones
that we're working with.
Ut Austin is one of them, UCLACornell, UC Berkeley, but I also
have colleagues who are workingin programs that are associated
with summer discovery Almostall the programs.
It's a certain type of studentsgoing to look and say I'm going
(18:11):
to study pre-law for three weeks, I want to do that.
They're kind of, you know,determining this is what I want
to do.
So that's the type of studentthat's self-motivated.
And then that's where it's veryimportant for these
universities to be very truthfuland honest about.
Here's the experience, here'swhat you're coming to do and
here's what you're going toleave with.
No different than a freshman, Imean than a senior, figuring out
(18:31):
where do I want to be afreshman next year, what degree
do I want to get?
So it's kind of like that's whyit's pre-college, it's kind of
like this experience before toreally figure out is this a
place that I want to be at?
And then you know if thestudent is.
You know third generation UTAustin.
You know grandma went there,mom went there, you know my big
sister goes.
I'm gonna go there.
Yeah, of course I'm gonna go toUT Austin and they figure out.
(18:52):
This is a great school I love.
I see why mom and my sister,you know, really appreciated it
and my grandma came here about.
I Am maybe thinking aboutsomething else.
And there could be a studentUCLA who's thinking I've maybe
thinking about something else.
And there could be a student atUCLA who's thinking I've been
thinking about UCLA forever.
I've gone to the games, goBruins, but then they end up at
UT Austin and that's okay, and Ithink that's what these
programs do.
It helps people figure out.
(19:14):
I need to fit.
I need to be in a place where Ifit in.
I need to be in a place that'sthe right fit for me and I think
that's what's most important.
So's the right fit for me and Ithink that's what's most
important.
So maybe the right fit isn'tthat school that dad went to,
but maybe the right fit is goingto be school I never heard of
and maybe now using AI to likeresearch, some schools that have
(19:36):
some of the attributes and thethings that I want.
So if I'm a student and I canreally figure out I want to have
, I want to be a biology majorand you know, there's all of
these schools where I can go andget a degree in biology but at
the same time, I want to playrugby.
They do their research and theyfigure out.
Yeah, there's a you know arugby, you know team at this
school.
(19:56):
Anybody can sign up.
And now I've kind of whittleddown my list of schools because
that's what's going to make mehappy and really figure out what
I want to do next.
But I need rugby for those fouryears Like they can use AI to
figure that out, but it's theright fit, what's going to be
right for them.
And I think there's a lot ofstudents in this country, in
this world, who think that it'sprescribed for them of what they
(20:20):
need to do.
And it's through these similarprograms where they can really
figure out, I can really expandmy view of what I want to do.
And you can take that from theflip side and I think we have
students who who arefirst-generation maybe have
never had anybody at the dinnertable talking about school sure,
we're talking about an industryor certain business and they
(20:42):
don't realize that their rightfit is Stanford, mit and Harvard
.
So I worked at Georgetown.
I was assistant dean for manyyears.
I helped run one of theprograms they ran, the summer
college immersion program.
We worked with kids fromCrystal Rain camp, juniors, and
we accepted students who were onthat trajectory.
(21:05):
Just on paper.
You're more than likely you'regonna get into MIT, you're gonna
get to Stanford, but you haveto apply.
They didn't think so.
They would look at their essaysand they'd be in the program,
and there's usually about 40, 45students who are in the program
and a lot of these prepprograms are kind of figuring
out, like how do we prepare youfor the SAT, the DCT, how do we
(21:26):
help you figure out?
You know to be prepared forcalculus your senior year.
We didn't do that in thatprogram.
Really, in that program what wedid was here's the college app.
Here's how the Harvardapplication works.
Here's how the Stanfordapplication works.
Here's fast flow.
Here's how the Harvardapplication works.
Here's how the Stanfordapplication works.
Here's FAFSA.
Here's why you have to makesure your parents are filling it
(21:47):
out in time for A, b, c and D.
We're here at Georgetown forthree weeks.
Let's understand how Georgetownworks.
Did you know that some of theseschools are going to require
you to do an interview?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Or supplemental material.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Supplemental material , material, a portfolio, and how
do you put that together?
How do you prepare for aninterview, because you've never
done an interview like thatbefore.
And then we work with thosestudents are really just
figuring out how do you navigatethis, because a lot of other
students will sometimes have apersonal college counselor or in
their boarding school they havesomebody who's like really just
working with them intensely.
(22:22):
Some of these schools, thesestudents, are coming from
schools where their collegecounselor has, you know, 400
students in their case caseload,so they're not getting the
attention that they need.
So how do we help them figurethis out?
And that is helping them figureout their right, because these
students right fit is maybe notthe local community college,
(22:44):
which is okay, and it isStanford, yeah, and it is
Georgetown, yeah, and it is MIT,and how do we help them get
there?
And so it goes both ways.
But when it comes down to hisright fit, what's the right fit
for you and who's your supportsystem helping you figure it out
?
And some students come fromfamilies and and means to have
those support systems there andsome students don't.
(23:06):
But if we can evolve thiseducation ecosystem and make
sure that every student fromevery zip code has the
opportunity and has a supportsystem, whether it's a
community-based organization, auniversity or their own family.
But they had that supportsystem to figure out.
This is my next step and here'swhat's possible Incredibly
(23:28):
salient points.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
I mean, you said a lot and I just want to
double-click on a couple things.
And I found a lot of resonancewith it, particularly because my
mom, single mother, raised fourboys by herself, worked two and
three jobs.
She graduated and got a collegedegree, but she had four little
children, right.
So she didn't fully participatein the college experience.
(23:50):
To the point where you fastforward and she's dropping me
off at Penn State in the middleof Happy Valley, pennsylvania.
You know.
She said here you go, you know,and then I'm essentially
finding out.
You know I had upper bound tohelp me out on the Saturdays and
over the summer and things likethat.
But I also understood that alot of this is up to me, right,
(24:12):
and I have to be the architectof my own discovery, of my own
journey, right, which can takedifferent forms.
Talk to me a little bit aboutwho was the Esteban for you,
right, as you were going throughyour journey, right?
But also what is some of thatadvice that they gave to you and
that you kind of kind of carryon to your students now?
Speaker 3 (24:31):
well, I mean definitely amazing teachers that
I had.
Um, I mean, I think it was, itwas fourth grade.
There was just one teacher justreally believed in me and she
says you don't belong in thisreading program.
I'm going to test you and youbelong in this other program.
She put me into that programGifted intelligence.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
It might have been.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I don't know what we called it back then, but she
made sure that I was in a higherlevel program.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
She saw something.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
That's where I go back to that conversation of
being seen and heard.
She saw me, she heard me and Irealized, okay, and I'm going to
look for people like that in mylife, who are going to see me
and hear me and listen to them,because maybe they're going to
help me with that next step.
Then, of course, it was likethe friend who showed me the
check from Upward Bound.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, money talks.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Money talks, money talks, money talks.
And Up Money talks, money talksand upper down counselors.
Amazing professors in highschool did IB International
Baccalaureate Program and theypushed us and it was amazing.
Just that push was needed, thatpush to say like you can do
better, you can study more, youcan write a longer paper, you
(25:41):
can write a better paper.
You're thinking this is an A,I'm giving you a C, but I'm
gonna give you a chance to redoit to get an A.
Those were those moments where Ihated it in that moment.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
But I realized I got the same paper three times.
But I got the.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
A, exactly exactly so .
It's those people who push youinto discomfort so that you grow
, because if you don't grow,you're never going to see
yourself outside of a certaindefinition or certain zip code,
or you're not gonna see yourselfbeing able to go across the
country to a college and be onyour own to figure it out on
(26:17):
your own as well and be okaywith that.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
One of my favorite pieces of advice is a quick
follow-up to that question.
One of my favorite pieces ofadvice is a quick follow-up to
that question.
One of my favorite pieces ofadvice is a mind expanded,
cannot return to its originalform, right Going back towards
the exploration and thediscovery that you've been
talking about all throughout ourtime here.
What is one piece of advicethat you would give to a student
, based off all the experiencethat you've had, all the people
(26:40):
that reported to you, what's onepiece of sailing advice that
you can consider?
Speaker 3 (26:45):
um I go back to the, the jesuit principle?
sure, yeah, some of them are souniversal and I think that idea
of reflection is so important totake the time out to reflect on
who am I, who have I been um,who am I now?
Do I want to do?
Who's impacted me in my life?
(27:05):
What brings me joy?
What brings me happiness?
Reflect on all of those thingsto really figure out what's that
next road that I need to take.
And who are these people that inmy own neighborhood going back
to your other question as well,we've been into this there were
(27:28):
some people who were those maybenontraditional mentors.
These were people who werewaiting for the bus stop, were
just ending their day at 7 am inthe morning and telling me go
to school, I don't want to seeyou cutting school.
And if you do, don to school, Idon't want to see you cutting
school.
And if you do, don't do what Ido.
And that moment and thoseteaching moments were important
(27:49):
in the neighborhood that I livedin.
Those people were just asimportant to help push me along,
because they saw me, they heardme and they said you're going
to be this, don't do what we'redoing.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
But, Esteban, you ever ask yourself when you were
in, let's say, younger Esteban,Esteban, you ever ask yourself
when you were in, let's say,younger Esteban, when faced with
the person at the bus stop,said don't do this.
You ever ask yourself why doyou care?
And I ask that because intoday's time you've got so many
youth that would rather be herein DC, pentagon City or out in
(28:19):
Tyson's, out in the metro onmotorbikes.
They want to have fun withtheir kids, with their friends,
and you know you've got mentorswho are telling them you can do
better.
Sometimes I'm faced with thequestion that they ask why do
you care, mr Nolley?
Why do you?
You know you're not my dad, youknow.
And so what are some of thechallenges that you face as a
(28:41):
mentor?
To reach those kids and perhapsturn them around so they can
see themselves the way you seethem 20 years in the future.
You know sometimes you have toget them out of the way.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
I would almost say the struggle and the hard work
isn't even working with theyouth or identifying the youth.
The struggle and the hard workis getting people in our
communities, because we needmore people in our community to
see and hear these students.
So it goes back to once againif I'm not seen and I'm not
heard, I'm never going to haveany self-acquisition, any agency
(29:18):
, any understanding that I canbe something different.
I need you to see me and hearme and there's not enough adults
in our society, in ourneighborhoods, in our cities,
who are taking the time andwhether that's volunteering,
whether that's doing this as ajob, working with you to see
them and to hear them and to bea change, a trajectory in their
(29:40):
life.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
And I think we have to do that.
And I think we have to do thatbecause you here for a second,
because you said somethingthat's powerful there.
Why do you think people don'ttake the time?
Speaker 3 (29:51):
We're busy, we're wrapped up into our own mind.
I think people will say, oh,the kids are always on the
Internet, the kids are always onthe phone.
I think us, as the adults, it'sour responsibility in society to
put that away Absolutely theadults.
It's our responsibility insociety to put that away
absolutely and to take the timeto volunteer and work with
whether it's a youth in fostercare or homeless or and is just
(30:13):
your neighbor's kid, and becauseyou're working in Scouts,
you're, you're someone in thatmoment and you have the ability
to see them and to hear them.
Do that, that, take the time,put us the adults.
Let's put everything to theside, let's put the noise to the
side and let's do what our jobis to do, whether we're parents
or not is to be there for theyouth in our community, across
(30:35):
our city and all the zip codes,and really show up, because if
we don't show up for them, it'snot on them, it's not their
responsibility, it's ourresponsibility.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Yeah, this is powerful.
Like I said, I was a product ofa mentor.
It wasn't necessarily as formalas yours, but I do see the
benefits of at least someonebelieving in me, even when I
couldn't see that I was worthanything.
So that is, that is a you know,and I see maybe a difference
(31:09):
between, say, what I may havehad and what somebody else
didn't have.
So I definitely feel the needto kind of pay it forward, I
guess.
So I definitely appreciate thework that you've done.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah, as and as we get ready to wrap up here, I got
one more question for you.
You obviously have a nationalpresence, worked with groups all
over the country, worked withdifferent schools all over the
country.
How can we support you, thoseof us that care, that actually
want to hear students that wantto take the time to invest,
(31:42):
whether it's financialcontributions, donating time,
making strategic partnershipswhat can we do to be better
partners to you and the workthat you're doing?
And, of course, talk a littlebit about how we can connect
with you after this.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Yeah, well, I mean there's, there's work in every
single neighborhood in everysingle city.
I'm also on the advisory boardfor NPEA, national Partnership
for Education Access.
They do a lot of work withdifferent organizations around
the country, also do some workwith National Summer Learning
Association, nsla.
Their ethos and their missionis to make sure that every
(32:19):
student, every zip code, hasoptions to participate in an
amazing summer program.
It's not even about helping me,it's helping us as a society.
It goes back to volunteeringyour time and whether that's
just being a scout leader inyour neighborhood for your son
(32:40):
or daughter's friends and peoplethey're volunteering to, you
know, teach a youth group atchurch, or really signing up and
say I'm gonna go spend time andtutor these, these homeless
kids at the shelter, or we'regoing to participate in this
organization to work with kidsin the foster care system.
Washington DC has some amazingopportunities for that.
(33:00):
It's finding thoseopportunities because I think it
really goes back to that oldadage that it takes a village.
But if you're not participatingas a village elder and bringing
your wisdom to somebody else,then the fault's going to lie on
you.
This society isn't going in thedirection that we think it
should be going in because we'renot seeing or not hearing our
(33:22):
youth.
So you have to look in themirror, ask yourself am I doing
these things to see and to hearthe youth so that they can
become future leaders?
Speaker 1 (33:32):
yeah, and for those listening.
What can we do?
What actionable next step canwe take to be the change that
you're talking about?
Speaker 3 (33:39):
here, um.
Volunteer in your community.
Volunteer in your community foryouth and with youth.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Absolutely, absolutely Well, esteban, thank
you so much for your time andthank you for joining Quincy and
I for this conversation.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yes, sir, absolutely Very timely.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
And, of course, we look forward to supporting you
and continuing to grow with you.
Thank you, thank you, music.
Countdown.
Well, super excited to behaving this conversation with
you all and, of course, topartner with a behalf of grad
gov, ideagen, who is doingamazing work to tell really
impactful stories as part oftheir Future Us Summit, and so
(00:28):
super excited to have Estebanand Quincy here to talk a little
bit more about some of theconversations that we've been
having off camera, but more sobringing in mentorship, which I
know is a huge piece for both ofus both of you all, as well as
some of the work that you'redoing pre-post-secondary
education.
So I really want to take thetime to first invite you in,
(00:49):
quincy, to talk a little bitabout that mentorship piece and
what that truly means in termsof innovation, the future of
right, but also how can we be apart of that?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, so I'm a product of a great mentor
relationship.
Early in my life, growing up ina part of the state of Texas
where I didn't have many peopleto look up to, there was there's
a guy who put me in touch withan organization that allowed me
(01:20):
to see outside my community, andonce I saw that I was able to
at least visualize where I couldbe, and that's very different
than reading about differentplaces.
And so eventually that's led mehere to washington dc and here
with esteban, who's got asimilar program, and I'd say
(01:41):
let's start by asking esteban,just describe the organization
that you're a part of and what'syour vision of why you're doing
what you're doing?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Well, I've been with Summer Discovery since 2019 and
we're working with universitiesaround the country, the UK and
Spain, to provide residentialpre-college programs for
majority high school students.
We have some middle school andin the tri-state area New York,
jersey, connecticut we have someday programs for 5th, 6th, 7th,
(02:17):
8th grade and even in 1st gradeand 2nd grade as well.
So we kind of expand that gamut.
Last year had an impact withalmost 15,000 students.
I think this year we're lookingto have a little bit more.
We just started our programs acouple of weeks ago.
But I've also done this workpre-Summer Discovery and really
(02:39):
it's this work of understandingthat summer is this amazing time
for students just to figure outwho they are, get away from the
noise of the neighborhood, getaway from the noise of siblings
and parents.
You know there's pressures thatyou have during the academic
year.
Everybody's kind of doing thisthing, everybody's wearing this
thing, everybody is vying forthe same school that they're
(03:01):
applying to.
When you kind of get out ofthat environment, environment,
you get to be a new person, youto be in situations where you're
figuring out your leadershipstyles, your leadership skills.
Here's the discovery exactly,exactly exactly, and and that
that discovery of yourself, yeah, this is so important because
(03:22):
when you're in a program thatsays you're in charge of this
team and here's your projectmaybe you don't have that during
the academic year, wherethey're just saying we have this
test at the end of the year,we're going to prepare you for
that During the summer.
You get to be a leader Duringthe summer.
You have to negotiate with yourroommate During the summer.
Maybe your parents only gaveyou so much money and by the
(03:44):
third day you're like I spenthalf.
How do I figure this out?
So you're learning things aboutyourself you may not have in
that traditional academicsetting.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
So we'll talk maybe about the institutions that that
you support and get these youthinto those institutions, but
maybe more important than kindof where they're going is how
they see themselves.
So you spoke of you know, let'stalk about a little bit what
you just said and given studentsa chance to simulate various
roles they may have in a waythat gets them outside of their
(04:16):
you know, their friend zone.
So are these students able toyou know what are the different
types of roles that they canplay?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Well, I mean, some of the roles are very specific.
You're in Class A and maybethis class is about
international relations, ormaybe this class is about
pre-law and you're assigned aproject and you're going to be
in charge of this project andyou're going to make sure that
your team comes to the last dayof the program and presents
their pitch, just kind of as anuance.
(04:47):
But there's other rules thatare not assigned.
You're in charge of figuringout what are you going to do
during free time with some ofyour friends between 6 and 8 pm
Crucial time.
Knowing that you have rules aswell, you can't leave this part
of campus, you're not allowed togo to this part of the city,
you know?
And how do you negotiate that?
So that's a rule.
(05:07):
That's maybe not part of theclass, but you have to figure
that out, you know.
And somebody says, oh no, well,let's, we can go across the
street, we can go to that partof the city.
You're like no, you can't.
You're taking on a role, aleadership role, or you're
negotiating, you know, with aroommate, or you're trying to
really just figure out.
I have no clean clothes.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Do I go on?
Speaker 3 (05:27):
this excursion right now, or do I actually stay back
and go to the laundromat in thebasement and wash my clothes?
It changes very much becausemom's not doing that for you and
so those are new roles that youtake on.
But you combine that with theacademic experience that you
have, you really leave adifferent person, more mature,
(05:48):
more understanding.
That here's who I am, and I hadto make decisions.
That may be my normal academicyear, or because mom and dad are
waking me up every day anddriving me around all of my
activities.
I didn't have that this summer.
I was on my own and I had tofigure some things out, and now
I'm leaving this program with alittle bit more autonomy, a
(06:09):
little bit more maturity andfiguring out that.
You know, I don't want mom toknow that I can do laundry now.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
One of the things that Quincy and I both
appreciate we're both Hoyas,Georgetown University and, as I
mentioned before, I serve as theExecutive Vice President for
the Graduate Student Governmentand one of the things that we
prioritize for students is howdo we not only develop them as a
good student right, which itsounds like you are as well but
(06:36):
how do we develop them as thewhole person, the sense of Cura
personality.
You've heard us before and youknow what has so much resonance
and makes your story so powerfulabout what you're doing and
transforming not just thetrajectory of these students but
their lives right in terms ofleadership development,
professional development,academic scholarship, all these
(06:56):
other things.
Can you talk a little bit about?
You know how you first got tosome of this work right and
thinking about, because you knowyou, you've been doing this.
This is your first rodeo.
You started 2019 with thisorganization, but you've been
building up to this for sometime.
Could you talk a little bitabout how we got to this point
and how that has kind of shapedthe work that you're doing now?
Speaker 3 (07:16):
I would say my first summer program, because I'm
obsessed with summer.
I've been working in summer along time.
It was probably my sophomoreyear in high school.
High school, wow.
And a friend of mine had acheck.
Okay, old school paper, checkOld school check.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Old school paper check.
I just dropped one of them offearlier today.
Yeah, where did you get thatcheck?
They still exist.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
They still exist.
And he says oh, this is astipend that I got for being
part of the Flautown program.
the local community college Idid an up and down program in
Louisiana, so you understand andyou know they entice students
because you know, do I do thisSaturday program with Humber
Bound or do I go and get thisjob?
(07:55):
So instead of doing the job,they're gonna give you a stipend
.
And it's a job because you haveto show up, you have to be
there, and during the summerthey do the same thing as well.
So I was really interested inthat, so I signed up and that
summer they said we're gonnagive you a stipend but you have
to live on campus for as manyweeks.
You have to take these twocourses that are being taught by
(08:16):
a college professor.
And it was in my hometown, butI didn't drive.
How often do I leave the eastside of Stockton?
I was going to a wholedifferent part of town and
living there on this collegecampus which I drove by, but I
never knew what was inside of it, and I was now taking a biology
class and taking a businessclass and really seeing myself
(08:39):
in that environment for thefirst time, being taught by
college professors, and saying Ican do this, I belong here.
That check is now ancillary.
I now understand that there's abigger trajectory, okay, that
if I embrace this, I can changethe trajectory of my life.
That's where I'm gonna go intothe future and start thinking
(09:00):
about careers after high school.
That these options of gettingthe job right.
After high school I could go tocollege good and never thought
about that.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
So would you say that you had us an amount of measure
of self-determination in you,that that self-determination
wasn't triggered until you gotoutside of your neighborhood.
And so what does?
What do you think it takestoday to see kids develop that
self-determination?
(09:34):
We grew up in a different area,an era didn't have smartphones,
electronic devices.
I think I had an atari a rotaryphone.
We had one computer in the house.
We had to schedule time withmom.
So kids now are distracted andthat self-determination might be
(09:58):
buried underneath all that.
What does it take for a youthto realize they've got
self-determination.
They can do more.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Well let me preface it with after doing Upward Bound
and, being a student, worked inUpward Bound during my college
years and kind of stayed withinthis and then for a while it was
a lot of access programs likeUpward Bound and TRIO programs,
and then moved into some of theprograms where, working with
(10:24):
universities and at universitieswhere it was a $10,000 price
tag or $6,000 price tag for aprogram, we still had
scholarships, and so that wholetrajectory up until now.
I've worked with students fromall different walks of life.
So students like myself,yourself, where we've done those
Upward Bound programs, orstudents who would not be able
(10:46):
to afford this program without ascholarship, families who are
full-paying and they're goingand they're there, international
students, internationalscholarships, and seeing all of
those different students fromall of those different walks of
life realizing that, on thehuman development level, all
students really want, all thoseyoung people really want, is to
(11:08):
figure out who am I, yeah.
What's my identity?
Where do I fit into this world?
Yeah, and do my ideas?
Are?
They're gonna be able totranslate into a future, but
also, what's the future?
I don't know what the future is, and it's good to be around
other people.
So whether you're talking abouta student, who is, you know,
from the Upper East Side or fromthe Upper West Side in New York
(11:28):
City or from Queens, andthey're doing a program.
It really doesn't matter.
The fact is, on a human level,they're all just trying to
figure out who am I?
Yeah, and we can give them thatspace in these programs are so
important.
Yeah, because the traditionallearning model of the fall and
spring kind of the class from 9am get out at this time helps to
(11:52):
a certain extent.
But this out of class timewhether they're amazing
after-school programs, amazingSaturday programs or making
summer programs are sometimesthought as an extra to the
academic ecosystem.
But what I've learned in thisworld is that Amazing Saturday
programs or Amazing Summerprograms are sometimes thought
as an extra to the academicecosystem.
But what I've learned in thisworld is that it's essential
because that's what helps astudent understand who they are
(12:13):
in these non-traditionalsettings and I think that's what
it gets back to and I thinkit's so important.
I think, sometimes people lookat the organizations who are
working in space after school,saturday programs, summer
programs and they see it asmaybe not the same level as what
the school system is providingin fall and spring.
But I would argue that's justas important because we're
(12:36):
providing that opportunity forthe student to get out of maybe
their comfort zone yeah, leaninto discomfort and figure out
who they are.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Yeah, and it sounds like development of the whole
person.
Cura personalis, curapersonalis, but as you think
about so, we talked a little bitabout the buildup to this
current moment.
We talked a little bit aboutsome of the work that you're
doing presently and we kind ofinched at it a little bit with
(13:05):
Quincy's question question.
But I'd love to go a little bitdeeper and double-click on what
do you see as the future of theeducation space?
Now you have folks that aregraduating with master's degrees
or advanced degrees, and thejob market right now may be
different, right?
Quincy alluded to this, as wellas some of the skills that were
traditional for students.
Right, in terms of theresilience, the resilience, the
grit, all these other things.
Now you have things like AI,you have things like chat, gpt,
(13:26):
you have things like automationand all these sorts of things
that we didn't have growing up.
I remember going looking upstuff in an encyclopedia.
Some people don't know what.
That is, right, it's a verylarge book that has a lot of
words, but you know.
So talk a little bit about whatyou see as the future and as
you prepare young people forthat future, what are some of
the things that you're givingthem as nuggets and tidbits to
(13:46):
help think about how they cansee themselves in the future.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Well, I think it's looking at like things like AI,
and I think there's noise andthere's distraction when we're
talking about AI, just in thesense of, oh, students are going
to use it to cheat, studentsare going to use it to create
something inauthentic and turnthat into a grave, and we hyper
focused on that.
But let's hyper focus on usingit as a tool.
Sure, so, like the encyclopediaexample you just gave, we had
(14:11):
encyclopedias in the house and Isaid, mom, what's Australia?
Where's Australia?
And she was like go look it up,get it, come over here, bring
it over here.
All right, so I'm going to helpyou find it.
And it's here.
I want you to read about it Now.
Go over there and read about itand come back and tell me about
it.
But she taught me how to useencyclopedia, that it was a tool
.
So she wasn't in the house andI wanted to figure out what's
(14:32):
coal mining or what's oil, and Ican go and figure that out.
We have to do the same thingwith AI.
We have to figure out how do wehelp the students understand
this is a tool.
So whether you're going to bethe person who's maybe gonna do
the coding and the machinelearning and the behind the
scenes thing to develop it anddesign it.
Or you're going to be theperson who owns a dance school
(14:55):
and you're gonna figure out howcan I find out who's in my area
to market to so I get more dancestudents.
Is AI a tool that I can use?
They should learn that inschool and they should really
figure out how can I use this asa tool.
And I want to pivot to thatconversation how do we do that
in these non-traditionalsettings to say, let's figure
(15:16):
out what this tool is and how doyou learn it?
So you're learning how to useAI, but you're also have a
different skill set.
How do I take something that'sbrand new, I've never seen
before, and then figure out howto use it as a tool?
And that's a skill set that wecan use, whether it's
encyclopedia or whether it's AI.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
yeah, what I'm hearing is AI and automation and
language learning model toolsare similar to that of something
like social media.
It's not inherently positive,it's not inherently negative,
but it's a tool and, dependingon how you use it and you know,
if you put junk in, you're goingto junk out, but if you put in
a good product, you can get abetter refined product.
(15:56):
Is that what I'm hearing?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
you say yes, yeah, yeah, very much, so, very much
so, and it's just how do you usethe tool that was the
screwdriver wrench?
Yeah, you know compass like howare you using these tools to
achieve your objective and whatyou want to do?
Absolutely you can decide.
Is this a tool I even need forwhatever my passion is?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
and yeah, but at least you know you need to use
it yeah, yeah, um, I want tomaybe take the conversation back
to your relationship with thesestudents and their future.
So you're working with them tomaybe see themselves after high
school, maybe some colleges andwe can talk about.
(16:37):
Maybe some students don't go tocollege, maybe they join the
military or maybe they'reworking at the auto shop, but
for those that want to go tocollege, you're working with
certain colleges.
Which colleges are you workingwith?
And maybe after that there'scertain students who you know.
(16:57):
I'll tell you a story.
Like I talk to high schoolstudents all the time, they'll
watch a Texas Tech game, playPenn State.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
We know who's winning that.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
The Raiders go win that game all day, every day.
When the Raiders win, they'llwant to go to Texas Tech.
That's their first time.
I'll have to have an honestconversation with these students
grades and I go get you intoTexas Tech.
You may need to go somewhereelse first.
You can graduate from Texas.
(17:29):
You can't start.
But so there's a, there's a.
To me, there's a difference inthe students who may feel like
they can go somewhere else butthey may not get there.
So like, what type of studentsare you looking for in your
program to get them to seethemselves in success?
Speaker 3 (17:49):
We're talking about the pre-college space
specifically.
I would say almost all thepre-college programs, the ones
that we're working with.
Ut Austin is one of them, UCLACornell, UC Berkeley, but I also
have colleagues who are workingin programs that are associated
with summer discovery Almostall the programs.
It's a certain type of studentsgoing to look and say I'm going
(18:11):
to study pre-law for three weeks, I want to do that.
They're kind of, you know,determining this is what I want
to do.
So that's the type of studentthat's self-motivated.
And then that's where it's veryimportant for these
universities to be very truthfuland honest about.
Here's the experience, here'swhat you're coming to do and
here's what you're going toleave with.
No different than a freshman, Imean than a senior, figuring out
(18:31):
where do I want to be afreshman next year, what degree
do I want to get?
So it's kind of like that's whyit's pre-college, it's kind of
like this experience before toreally figure out is this a
place that I want to be at?
And then you know if thestudent is.
You know third generation UTAustin.
You know grandma went there,mom went there, you know my big
sister goes.
I'm gonna go there.
Yeah, of course I'm gonna go toUT Austin and they figure out.
(18:52):
This is a great school I love.
I see why mom and my sister,you know, really appreciated it
and my grandma came here about.
I Am maybe thinking aboutsomething else.
And there could be a studentUCLA who's thinking I've maybe
thinking about something else.
And there could be a student atUCLA who's thinking I've been
thinking about UCLA forever.
I've gone to the games, goBruins, but then they end up at
UT Austin and that's okay, and Ithink that's what these
programs do.
It helps people figure out.
(19:14):
I need to fit.
I need to be in a place where Ifit in.
I need to be in a place that'sthe right fit for me and I think
that's what's most important.
So's the right fit for me and Ithink that's what's most
important.
So maybe the right fit isn'tthat school that dad went to,
but maybe the right fit is goingto be school I never heard of
and maybe now using AI to likeresearch, some schools that have
(19:36):
some of the attributes and thethings that I want.
So if I'm a student and I canreally figure out I want to have
, I want to be a biology majorand you know, there's all of
these schools where I can go andget a degree in biology but at
the same time, I want to playrugby.
They do their research and theyfigure out.
Yeah, there's a you know arugby, you know team at this
school.
(19:56):
Anybody can sign up.
And now I've kind of whittleddown my list of schools because
that's what's going to make mehappy and really figure out what
I want to do next.
But I need rugby for those fouryears Like they can use AI to
figure that out, but it's theright fit, what's going to be
right for them.
And I think there's a lot ofstudents in this country, in
this world, who think that it'sprescribed for them of what they
(20:20):
need to do.
And it's through these similarprograms where they can really
figure out, I can really expandmy view of what I want to do.
And you can take that from theflip side and I think we have
students who who arefirst-generation maybe have
never had anybody at the dinnertable talking about school sure,
we're talking about an industryor certain business and they
(20:42):
don't realize that their rightfit is Stanford, mit and Harvard
.
So I worked at Georgetown.
I was assistant dean for manyyears.
I helped run one of theprograms they ran, the summer
college immersion program.
We worked with kids fromCrystal Rain camp, juniors, and
we accepted students who were onthat trajectory.
(21:05):
Just on paper.
You're more than likely you'regonna get into MIT, you're gonna
get to Stanford, but you haveto apply.
They didn't think so.
They would look at their essaysand they'd be in the program,
and there's usually about 40, 45students who are in the program
and a lot of these prepprograms are kind of figuring
out, like how do we prepare youfor the SAT, the DCT, how do we
(21:26):
help you figure out?
You know to be prepared forcalculus your senior year.
We didn't do that in thatprogram.
Really, in that program what wedid was here's the college app.
Here's how the Harvardapplication works.
Here's how the Stanfordapplication works.
Here's fast flow.
Here's how the Harvardapplication works.
Here's how the Stanfordapplication works.
Here's FAFSA.
Here's why you have to makesure your parents are filling it
(21:47):
out in time for A, b, c and D.
We're here at Georgetown forthree weeks.
Let's understand how Georgetownworks.
Did you know that some of theseschools are going to require
you to do an interview?
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Or supplemental material.
Speaker 3 (22:01):
Supplemental material , material, a portfolio, and how
do you put that together?
How do you prepare for aninterview, because you've never
done an interview like thatbefore.
And then we work with thosestudents are really just
figuring out how do you navigatethis, because a lot of other
students will sometimes have apersonal college counselor or in
their boarding school they havesomebody who's like really just
working with them intensely.
(22:22):
Some of these schools, thesestudents, are coming from
schools where their collegecounselor has, you know, 400
students in their case caseload,so they're not getting the
attention that they need.
So how do we help them figurethis out?
And that is helping them figureout their right, because these
students right fit is maybe notthe local community college,
(22:44):
which is okay, and it isStanford, yeah, and it is
Georgetown, yeah, and it is MIT,and how do we help them get
there?
And so it goes both ways.
But when it comes down to hisright fit, what's the right fit
for you and who's your supportsystem helping you figure it out
?
And some students come fromfamilies and and means to have
those support systems there andsome students don't.
(23:06):
But if we can evolve thiseducation ecosystem and make
sure that every student fromevery zip code has the
opportunity and has a supportsystem, whether it's a
community-based organization, auniversity or their own family.
But they had that supportsystem to figure out.
This is my next step and here'swhat's possible Incredibly
(23:28):
salient points.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
I mean, you said a lot and I just want to
double-click on a couple things.
And I found a lot of resonancewith it, particularly because my
mom, single mother, raised fourboys by herself, worked two and
three jobs.
She graduated and got a collegedegree, but she had four little
children, right.
So she didn't fully participatein the college experience.
(23:50):
To the point where you fastforward and she's dropping me
off at Penn State in the middleof Happy Valley, pennsylvania.
You know.
She said here you go, you know,and then I'm essentially
finding out.
You know I had upper bound tohelp me out on the Saturdays and
over the summer and things likethat.
But I also understood that alot of this is up to me, right,
(24:12):
and I have to be the architectof my own discovery, of my own
journey, right, which can takedifferent forms.
Talk to me a little bit aboutwho was the Esteban for you,
right, as you were going throughyour journey, right?
But also what is some of thatadvice that they gave to you and
that you kind of kind of carryon to your students now?
Speaker 3 (24:31):
well, I mean definitely amazing teachers that
I had.
Um, I mean, I think it was, itwas fourth grade.
There was just one teacher justreally believed in me and she
says you don't belong in thisreading program.
I'm going to test you and youbelong in this other program.
She put me into that programGifted intelligence.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
It might have been.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I don't know what we called it back then, but she
made sure that I was in a higherlevel program.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
She saw something.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
That's where I go back to that conversation of
being seen and heard.
She saw me, she heard me and Irealized, okay, and I'm going to
look for people like that in mylife, who are going to see me
and hear me and listen to them,because maybe they're going to
help me with that next step.
Then, of course, it was likethe friend who showed me the
check from Upward Bound.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, money talks.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Money talks, money talks, money talks.
And Up Money talks, money talksand upper down counselors.
Amazing professors in highschool did IB International
Baccalaureate Program and theypushed us and it was amazing.
Just that push was needed, thatpush to say like you can do
better, you can study more, youcan write a longer paper, you
(25:41):
can write a better paper.
You're thinking this is an A,I'm giving you a C, but I'm
gonna give you a chance to redoit to get an A.
Those were those moments where Ihated it in that moment.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
But I realized I got the same paper three times.
But I got the.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
A, exactly exactly so .
It's those people who push youinto discomfort so that you grow
, because if you don't grow,you're never going to see
yourself outside of a certaindefinition or certain zip code,
or you're not gonna see yourselfbeing able to go across the
country to a college and be onyour own to figure it out on
(26:17):
your own as well and be okaywith that.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
One of my favorite pieces of advice is a quick
follow-up to that question.
One of my favorite pieces ofadvice is a quick follow-up to
that question.
One of my favorite pieces ofadvice is a mind expanded,
cannot return to its originalform, right Going back towards
the exploration and thediscovery that you've been
talking about all throughout ourtime here.
What is one piece of advicethat you would give to a student
, based off all the experiencethat you've had, all the people
(26:40):
that reported to you, what's onepiece of sailing advice that
you can consider?
Speaker 3 (26:45):
um I go back to the, the jesuit principle?
sure, yeah, some of them are souniversal and I think that idea
of reflection is so important totake the time out to reflect on
who am I, who have I been um,who am I now?
Do I want to do?
Who's impacted me in my life?
(27:05):
What brings me joy?
What brings me happiness?
Reflect on all of those thingsto really figure out what's that
next road that I need to take.
And who are these people that inmy own neighborhood going back
to your other question as well,we've been into this there were
(27:28):
some people who were those maybenontraditional mentors.
These were people who werewaiting for the bus stop, were
just ending their day at 7 am inthe morning and telling me go
to school, I don't want to seeyou cutting school.
And if you do, don to school, Idon't want to see you cutting
school.
And if you do, don't do what Ido.
And that moment and thoseteaching moments were important
(27:49):
in the neighborhood that I livedin.
Those people were just asimportant to help push me along,
because they saw me, they heardme and they said you're going
to be this, don't do what we'redoing.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
But, Esteban, you ever ask yourself when you were
in, let's say, younger Esteban,Esteban, you ever ask yourself
when you were in, let's say,younger Esteban, when faced with
the person at the bus stop,said don't do this.
You ever ask yourself why doyou care?
And I ask that because intoday's time you've got so many
youth that would rather be herein DC, pentagon City or out in
(28:19):
Tyson's, out in the metro onmotorbikes.
They want to have fun withtheir kids, with their friends,
and you know you've got mentorswho are telling them you can do
better.
Sometimes I'm faced with thequestion that they ask why do
you care, mr Nolley?
Why do you?
You know you're not my dad, youknow.
And so what are some of thechallenges that you face as a
(28:41):
mentor?
To reach those kids and perhapsturn them around so they can
see themselves the way you seethem 20 years in the future.
You know sometimes you have toget them out of the way.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
I would almost say the struggle and the hard work
isn't even working with theyouth or identifying the youth.
The struggle and the hard workis getting people in our
communities, because we needmore people in our community to
see and hear these students.
So it goes back to once againif I'm not seen and I'm not
heard, I'm never going to haveany self-acquisition, any agency
(29:18):
, any understanding that I canbe something different.
I need you to see me and hearme and there's not enough adults
in our society, in ourneighborhoods, in our cities,
who are taking the time andwhether that's volunteering,
whether that's doing this as ajob, working with you to see
them and to hear them and to bea change, a trajectory in their
(29:40):
life.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
And I think we have to do that.
And I think we have to do thatbecause you here for a second,
because you said somethingthat's powerful there.
Why do you think people don'ttake the time?
Speaker 3 (29:51):
We're busy, we're wrapped up into our own mind.
I think people will say, oh,the kids are always on the
Internet, the kids are always onthe phone.
I think us, as the adults, it'sour responsibility in society to
put that away Absolutely theadults.
It's our responsibility insociety to put that away
absolutely and to take the timeto volunteer and work with
whether it's a youth in fostercare or homeless or and is just
(30:13):
your neighbor's kid, and becauseyou're working in Scouts,
you're, you're someone in thatmoment and you have the ability
to see them and to hear them.
Do that, that, take the time,put us the adults.
Let's put everything to theside, let's put the noise to the
side and let's do what our jobis to do, whether we're parents
or not is to be there for theyouth in our community, across
(30:35):
our city and all the zip codes,and really show up, because if
we don't show up for them, it'snot on them, it's not their
responsibility, it's ourresponsibility.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Yeah, this is powerful.
Like I said, I was a product ofa mentor.
It wasn't necessarily as formalas yours, but I do see the
benefits of at least someonebelieving in me, even when I
couldn't see that I was worthanything.
So that is, that is a you know,and I see maybe a difference
(31:09):
between, say, what I may havehad and what somebody else
didn't have.
So I definitely feel the needto kind of pay it forward, I
guess.
So I definitely appreciate thework that you've done.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah, as and as we get ready to wrap up here, I got
one more question for you.
You obviously have a nationalpresence, worked with groups all
over the country, worked withdifferent schools all over the
country.
How can we support you, thoseof us that care, that actually
want to hear students that wantto take the time to invest,
(31:42):
whether it's financialcontributions, donating time,
making strategic partnershipswhat can we do to be better
partners to you and the workthat you're doing?
And, of course, talk a littlebit about how we can connect
with you after this.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Yeah, well, I mean there's, there's work in every
single neighborhood in everysingle city.
I'm also on the advisory boardfor NPEA, national Partnership
for Education Access.
They do a lot of work withdifferent organizations around
the country, also do some workwith National Summer Learning
Association, nsla.
Their ethos and their missionis to make sure that every
(32:19):
student, every zip code, hasoptions to participate in an
amazing summer program.
It's not even about helping me,it's helping us as a society.
It goes back to volunteeringyour time and whether that's
just being a scout leader inyour neighborhood for your son
(32:40):
or daughter's friends and peoplethey're volunteering to, you
know, teach a youth group atchurch, or really signing up and
say I'm gonna go spend time andtutor these, these homeless
kids at the shelter, or we'regoing to participate in this
organization to work with kidsin the foster care system.
Washington DC has some amazingopportunities for that.
(33:00):
It's finding thoseopportunities because I think it
really goes back to that oldadage that it takes a village.
But if you're not participatingas a village elder and bringing
your wisdom to somebody else,then the fault's going to lie on
you.
This society isn't going in thedirection that we think it
should be going in because we'renot seeing or not hearing our
(33:22):
youth.
So you have to look in themirror, ask yourself am I doing
these things to see and to hearthe youth so that they can
become future leaders?
Speaker 1 (33:32):
yeah, and for those listening.
What can we do?
What actionable next step canwe take to be the change that
you're talking about?
Speaker 3 (33:39):
here, um.
Volunteer in your community.
Volunteer in your community foryouth and with youth.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Absolutely, absolutely Well, esteban, thank
you so much for your time andthank you for joining Quincy and
I for this conversation.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
Yes, sir, absolutely Very timely.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
And, of course, we look forward to supporting you
and continuing to grow with you.
Thank you, thank you, music.
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