Rising Star

Your grades are good, you juggle school with everything else in your life, and you have big plans — college, a career, taking care of the people you love. What you may not have yet are the resources, support and know-how to get there. Rising Star connects driven students with the people, preparation and possibilities to succeed in college.

How it works

• People — you’re matched with volunteers who support you, and you join a peer-to-peer online community.
• Preparation — personalized feedback on your college essays.
• Possibilities — two summer programs that give you the full college experience.

What we ask of you

• Show up. Sessions meet online monthly in sophomore year, every two weeks in junior year, and weekly in the first semester of senior year (September to May, not including holidays).
• Do the work. Sessions come with in-session and some out-of-session assignments, and students complete all of them.

Curriculum

Sophomore year

The sophomore year builds confidence, ambition and motivation early in high school. Its two strands are Writing & Critical Thinking and Math Matters.

• Math Matters is the first stage of test preparation: a structured weekly curriculum with trained teachers, study materials and the individual attention that raises standardized test scores.
• Writing & Critical Thinking practices structuring arguments, logical reasoning and communicating ideas, through monthly discussions of global current events and debate topics.
• Students are introduced to college admissions and draw up a three-year course and activity plan for high school.
• Mentors guide each student through applying to a summer program; at the end of the year students head to summer programs at prep schools, colleges and universities around the country.

Junior year

Junior year is a full year of SAT or ACT preparation, leading up to the spring exam, alongside more writing.

• Students work in teams grouped by what each needs to develop, with personal coaching in math and verbal skills from test-prep instructors.
• The curriculum walks through the format of the exams, test-taking strategies and a refresh of basic skills, with several diagnostic exams to find strengths and weaknesses.
• Students keep drafting and refining their personal statements, reading short autobiographical works by writers such as Maya Angelou to find their own way of telling their story.
• A spring debate series sharpens critical thinking and public speaking.

Senior year

Senior year is the college application itself.

• A test-prep refresher for students taking the SAT or ACT in the fall.
• Writing & Critical Thinking focused on college essays.
• Mentoring on choosing colleges, preparing applications, government and institutional financial aid, third-party scholarships and the skills students need once they arrive.
• In the spring, a capstone project: a service-learning project that gives back to the community.

Questions

Not sure whether you qualify? Email us and ask — that’s what we’re here for.