AALEAD Staff Launches Cross Regional College and Career Prep

By Maggie Chu, Maryland High School Program Coordinator

Photos Courtesy of Maggie Chu

With the rush of senior college applications dying down post winter break, the AALEAD high school team from Maryland, Virginia and DC went to work. For the past two months, staff worked to figure out how to best continue supporting seniors transitioning out of high school while also laying the groundwork for juniors and underclassmen. 

While virtual programs have been a hindrance in many ways, being able to work with staff and youth from across the DMV region has opened a lot of opportunities for collaboration and learning. This semester, AALEAD launched our Cross Regional College and Career Prep Program that aims to support and empower youth with resources and skills for life after high school. Staff has been able to support youth in different ways depending on our different strengths. This has led youth to have a more well rounded experience in their educational empowerment journey.

Now that we’re about a month into our cross regional College and Career Prep programs, we have had the opportunity to touch on many topics already! 

We kicked off  the College and Career Prep Program by asking youth the question, “Is college right for you?” For many Asian Americans there are a lot of societal pressures placed on youth that to succeed in life, one needs to attend a four year institution. We wanted to make sure that youth knew that it isn’t the only option. After the workshop, youth shared relief knowing that there were many opportunities available, and appreciated having the different paths mapped out for them. 

The following program day, staff led a fun activity for youth to dive into more career exploration through Open Colleges “Career Quiz: Personality Test.” While I don’t encourage youth to take everything a quiz says to heart, youth learned more about their career options and reflect on how their life goals can relate to their future career choices.

In our most recent workshop, staff led an introduction on how to approach personal essays. Youth were not only gained writing tips for success but also reflected on the “personal” part of a personal essay and explored some experiences in their life that could be used for writing strong applications.

High School Program Coordinators in Maryland, Virginia and DC are so excited about the opportunities the rest of the semester has in store for AALEAD high school youth in the College and Career Prep program! Several youth in our program have stated that life after high school is an exciting but scary unknown. AALEAD is here in the hopes to make the process a little less daunting.

Upcoming workshops that we have in store include Financial Aid, SAT Test Prep, Resume & Interview Skills, etc. If you or a youth that you know might be interested in free college and career preparation from an Asian American perspective, please reach out to the respective coordinator for each region!

Maryland Region: Maggie Chu mchu@aalead.org

Virginia Region: Kathy Jiang kjiang@aalead.org

DC Region: Natie Hara nhara@aalead.org