In partnership with Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School and Children’s Aid, The Excel Academy supports 30 first-generation students of color from the South Bronx to take hold of their future. Equipped with NYU ID cards, students are immersed within the college environment and will gain college knowledge by engaging with faculty and current students to learn about majors, and be introduced to different routes to college and opportunities beyond. As a critical literacy and college access program, scholars are engaged in interdisciplinary sessions to support their critical thinking, reading and writing as well as gain college knowledge on the New York University campus. Over the course of the year, students will research potential majors they are passionate about, create outlines for college and scholarship applications and develop a strong personal statement. Overall, this course centers the lived realities of the youth and college students recognizing the economic, political, and social climates can impede college access for first-generation students
