Alumni Spotlight: Nick

We’re so proud of Nick (Cohort 25) who is one of several alumni who were awarded the prestigious Posse Scholarship! He will be attending Cornell University this fall and we’re excited for him to take the next step in his academic career. His journey started at his home school in the Ashburn neighborhood where he was introduced to High Jump. Here is what Nick had to share about his High Jump experience:

How did you learn about High Jump and why did you apply?

“It was a miracle that High Jump chose to do a presentation at my school and I just so happened to be one of the students who the teachers thought would be a good candidate. As soon as the presentation was over, I knew I wanted to do it, that this was something I wanted to be a part of. A lot of kids at my school were involved in bad influences like older siblings or older people in their neighborhood who got caught up in a lot of crime. There were also kids who just got comfortable staying where they were. When High Jump came along it was like school on steroids and I was just like ‘You know, why not? It’s better than all this other stuff that’s happening.’

What were your first impressions of High Jump?

“It gave me a classroom where I didn’t feel bad for raising my hand. At my neighborhood school, I’d raise my hand way too much because it took other kids a bit longer to grasp things, but at High Jump I was just as lost as everyone else. It put me with kids who were at the same level as me. There was also something more laid back about it, there wasn’t the negative prejudice towards students that I was used to. There was a lot more hope in the kids and everyone was there to push kids forward in their educational careers and that was something I really took seriously because no one really had that for me besides my family. High Jump was a great anchor for me at that age.”

Nick with Paty Perea and fellow alumna Jenny

Who are some people at High Jump who inspired you?

“Paty Perea was Campus Director at the time and she was always there rooting for all of us and she did a really good job at energizing the kids in a way that made me actually want to take stuff seriously. She made us realize that it would be worth putting all the work in. There was also my High Jump teacher Ms. Longmire who packaged literature in a way that left me obsessed with books and writing ever since. My High Jump teacher Mr. Nichols was also a big influence. He helped me with the college process tremendously and gave me a lot of good advice because he understood my background just from having the affinity through High Jump.”

What was your biggest takeaway from High Jump?

“The biggest thing I learned from High Jump was that I mattered. It’s kind of sad, but it’s a reality that I think a lot of kids at my school dealt with and probably a lot of kids throughout Chicago. Just to know that there are organizations like High Jump that are inherently trying to reverse the effects of things that are systemically pushing students down, and that there are people like Paty and amazing teachers that express genuine and authentic care for their students on a daily basis that keeps us coming back — that really made me feel important. That’s definitely why I took my education seriously. High Jump made that change in me to want the best thing for myself.“