Let's Get Ready Prepares New Rochelle Students for College

The college admissions process is difficult under the best of circumstances, and especially so if you don’t have an experienced network of family and school guidance. On August 11th, 63 New Rochelle High School seniors successfully completed seven weeks of SAT prep and college application assistance provided free of charge by the locally founded non-profit organization Let’s Get Ready (LGR). LGR was founded thirteen years ago by a Scarsdale High School alumnus, and strives to help students from all socioeconomic backgrounds gain equal access to the support they need to reach higher education.

In addition to twice a week prep sessions in Verbal and Math, students visited local colleges, attended a college fair at NYU, and worked with coaches to create lists of potential colleges and universities. Their hard work paid off with significant increases in practice exam scores (and lower stress levels!)

This progress was the direct result of both the hard work of the students in the program as well as the dedication of thirteen volunteer coaches. This summer, four Scarsdale High School alumni - Jacklyn Quartner (Vanderbilt University, 2013), Katie Mayer (Cornell University, 2014), Philip Gallagher (Brandeis University, 2014), and Annie Goldman (Bucknell University, 2014) - served as math and/or verbal coaches. These Scarsdale coaches, along with other local college students, worked in classrooms of 6-9 students where they taught the material and strategies of the SATs and elucidated (good SAT word!) the daunting college application process.

At the final ceremony students were joined by their parents to commemorate the students’ accomplishments as well as learn about financial aid and scholarships. The program and final ceremony would not have been possible without the generous support of several local businesses.

A huge thanks goes out to Sammy’s Bagels on Weaver St., who kept our students fed and alert each and every LGR session (http://www.sammysbagels.net/). Villa Roma, new to Scarsdale Village, provided a delicious Italian closing dinner at reduced cost (http://villaromapizzeria.com/). For dessert Flourish Baking Company, located on Summerfield St., donated tasty chocolate chip cookies (http://flourishbakingcompany.blogspot.com/).

To praise our most outstanding students, local businesses in New Rochelle and White Plains provided generous gift certificates. Thank you to Chicken Joes (http://www.originalchickenjoes.com/), Tasti D-Lite (http://www.tastidlite.com/), Starbucks (http://www.starbucks.com/), Melting Pot (http://www.meltingpot.com/) and Haagen- Daz (http://www.haagen-dazs.com/).

To learn more about Let’s Get Ready please visit www.letsgetready.org.

Rachel Kroll (SHS ’10, Tufts University ’14), Let’s Get Ready New Rochelle Co-Site Director