Rigorous Prep for Prep program begins with ‘academic boot camp’
At age 19, Dan-el Padilla Peralta is fluent in five languages. His command of Spanish and English is no surprise since his bilingual family moved to New York City from the Dominican Republic 14 years ago. But French, Latin and Greek?
“I feel intensely about classical studies,” explains Dan-el, recipient of Princeton University’s Freshman First Honor Prize, an award that annually recognizes the academic achievements of an outstanding freshman.
Required to take eight courses his first year on campus, Dan-el enrolled in 11 and excelled. He credits his college success to Prep for Prep, a highly selective program aimed at minority grade-school and middle-school youngsters who are nominated by teachers at some 500 public schools in New York City. Once chosen for the program — 3,500 students vie annually for the 200 slots — the youth undergo 14 months of academic preparation and then apply to private schools renowned for their high scholastic standards.
“Prep for Prep changed my life,” says Dan-el, who left Harlem’s P.S. 200 after the sixth grade and commuted daily by train to Collegiate, a leading independent school across the city. “When I went to public school I knew a lot of students who were just as motivated as I was, but that motivation can hit a wall. They end up feeling drained and burned out. Prep for Prep gave me constant motivation to succeed and taught me to view academics not as drudge work but as something I could love.”
It wasn’t easy, even for a student as gifted as Dan-el. He recalls Prep’s intense summer curriculum, geared to prepare youths for entry into private school, as “the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” In addition to classes in literature, math, science and history was a demanding course called PIMAS—Problems and Issues in Modern American Society—that prodded participants to analyze contemporary public problems and think about possible solutions. Aware that the stepped-up expectations of the program might prove frustrating to some students, Prep administrators created a support team to serve as sounding boards and role models.
“Our best defense against discouragement is the central role that our older students play as advisers in preparing our younger students,” explains Ed Boland, Prep’s director of development and public affairs. “Every year, 35 of Prep’s most accomplished high school seniors or undergraduates work closely with small groups of our middle-school students, getting them ready academically and socially for independent schools. Knowing that their advisers made it through our 14-month ‘academic boot camp’ and are excelling at the nation’s top colleges is inspiring to them.”
Prep’s work doesn’t end when students settle in at their independent schools. The program provides ongoing counseling, peer guidance, leadership-development training and summer internship opportunities. This support continues as each student approaches high school graduation and needs assistance in selecting a college, negotiating a financial aid package and making a successful transition to campus life. “During spring break of my junior year in high school, Prep arranged for me to visit universities such as Harvard, MIT, Brown and Duke,” says Dan-el. “This really helped me decide where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do.”
He eventually chose Princeton as his school and classical studies as his major. Still, his relationship with Prep has continued. Grateful to the program for its influence in his life, this year he will lead Prep for Prep’s Summer Advisory System that works with younger students as they experience their “academic boot camp” in preparation for independent school. “All kids feel at some point that they might not be up to the challenges of the program, or they question their ability to make it to the end,” says Dan-el. “As advisers we give them a boost and serve as models. We’re there partly to represent what they will become and partly to fulfill our own ambitions. We want to give something back to Prep for all it’s done for us.”
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