Cincinnati Youth Collaborative alumni Chloe Nared began her involvement with CYC when she was in the third grade, and she continued with the organization through her senior year of high school.
“I’ve been in it almost all of my life, and can definitely say they’ve been a great support system for myself in trying to make it through personal hardships,” Nared says.
CYC makes a difference in the lives of young people in second grade through college by providing mentoring, dropout prevention, high school success, college readiness and college success services. The organization brings together more than 1,700 volunteers and 100 local businesses and organizations to help young people graduate from high school and successfully make the leap forward into college and career.
Nared’s first CYC experience was with the
mentoring program, which she entered into after her aunt, who worked at the organization, enrolled her.
“She decided it’d be good for me to have a mentor—who turned out to be her—but I didn’t know what the program was until fifth or sixth grade. I just knew I was hanging out with my aunt/mentor,” Nared says. “But it was good for me because it got me out of the house and away from situations. Everything was going into a downward spiral as I got older—things became harder, I was less focused in school—that’s something the program definitely helped with.”
Nared, who is now a freshman at the
University of Rio Grande, says had it not been for the mentoring program, she wouldn’t be where she is today.
“She pushed me, practically shoved me through the door to get me from middle school to high school, high school to college,” Nared says. “She’s definitely been a positive motivator in my life.”
College Access’ Talent Search and
Jobs for Cincinnati Graduates are two other CYC programs that Nared took part in—both of which eased her transition from high school to college.
“My career specialist was definitely interested in keeping me in school—I can’t even explain it. I don’t know if it’s that she took a personal interest in me or just all of her students period, but just making sure that they had something to do after high school, whether they enlisted in the military, enrolled in college or just simply being employed after high school,” Nared says.
“I love to give back as much as I’ve received, and I feel like because I’ve been given that chance—an opportunity—I feel like it would be great for me to do the same thing as someone else and just help guide them the way that I was guided by my mentor, my college advisor from CYC and my career specialist from JCG.”
Do Good:
•
Volunteer with CYC as a mentor or tutor.
•
Support CYC by donating.
• Connect with CYC by liking the nonprofit's page on
Facebook.
By Brittany York
Brittany York is a professor of English composition at both the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.