A “Context” for the Conversation

Our Curriculum

College admissions provides the “context” of our curriculum design. We research college admissions data and communicate with college admissions officers to understand the holistic review of college applications and the nuances of the college selection process. Across our 3 pillars of scholarship, leadership, and service, students develop comprehensive college-bound plans and college readiness skills by:

• Developing competitive academic records (grades, test scores, class rank, course taking, elective choices, classes beyond what is require, enrichment and summer program involvement)
• Building oral and written communication skills
• Pursuing extracurricular activities reflective of a student’s gifts, talents, passions, and personality
• Engaging in meaningful leadership and community service that will impact a student’s family, school, and community
• Aligning a student’s high school body of work with their college/career aspirations and family’s financial need

While high schools are charged with ensuring that students graduate from high school college or career ready, our curriculum focuses on guiding students across our 3 pillars of scholarship, leadership, and service in a way that will make students competitive college and scholarship applicants.

One of the most important topics that schools do not teach

9th Grade

Our 9th grade curriculum is focused on assisting students with making a successful transition into high school. The focus is on learning styles, study skills, learning strategies, time management, and critical thinking. Students work through our Learning Styles and Study Skills Curriculum. During our monthly discussion groups, students share the learning strategies they are using and engage in a yearlong assessment of the success of their strategies. We believe that making the most successful academic transition into high school will enable students to fully access their high school curriculum, whether they have access to AP, IB, magnet, or dual enrollment classes.

10th Grade

Our 10th grade curriculum is focused on assisting students in maximizing the opportunities in their schools and communities to develop their gifts and talents, set goals, and pursue meaningful leadership and service within the context of their personality, mindset, temperament, and grit. Students revisit learning style and study skills strategies to support intentionally pursuing goals across each of our 3 pillars of scholarship, leadership, and service.

Students engage in monthly grade-level discussions around essential questions as students explore their personality, temperament and mindset and grit. Students explore colleges, scholarships, and programs and the body of work they should be developing to become the most competitive college and scholarship applicants.

11th Grade

11th grade is the final year for students to develop the body of work they will present in their college and scholarship applications as high school seniors. During the 11th grade is where the 3 pillars of our program reveal themselves on a student’s résumé and within a student’s overall body of work. Students engage in a yearlong self-assessment of their grades, test scores, course taking, leadership, and service within the context of their college, career, and scholarship aspirations. A student’s course schedule, leadership, service, and planned summer programs all matter in formulating the pieces discussed by college admissions officers in the video.

Learning Styles & Study Skills

Study Skills Book | 5.25 x 7.25, 160 pages | $15.95

Study Skills Student Workbook | 8.5 x 11, 96 pages | $19.95

Who I Am Series

Volume I: My Learning Style Plan | 5.25 x 7.25 | 160 pages | $19.95

Volume II: Personality, Temperament, Mindset, and Grit | 5.25 x 7.25, 160 pages | $19.95

Volume III: My Time Management & Study Skills Plan | 5.25 x 7.25, 128 pages | $19.95

Volume IV: My Goals | 5.25 x 7.25, 160 pages | $19.95

Middle School Series

A Middle School Plan for Students with College-Bound Dreams | 8.5 x 11, 128 pages | $15.95

A Middle School Plan for Students with College-Bound Dreams: Workbook | 8.5 x 11, 128 pages | $15.95

High School Series

A High School Plan for Students with College-Bound Dreams | 8.5 x 11, 288 pages | $19.95

A High School Plan for Students with College-Bound Dreams: Workbook | 8.5 x 11, 128 pages | $15.95

A High School Plan for Students with College-Bound Dreams: Facilitator’s Guide | 8.5 x 11, 288 pages | $15.95

We then incorporate this information into our curriculum and the essential knowledge we want to develop in students during each of the first 3 years of high school.

By The End of 11th Grade

By the end of 11th grade, each student in our program should have developed a well researched college list, in which they her or she has affirmatively answered the following 3 questions:

Question #1: Do you believe that you qualify for admission to this college? If so, indicate how your grades and test scores compare to the median grades and test scores from this college based on your research. Indicate how your résumé qualifies you as a strong candidate for being offered admission based on what you learned from the Common Data Set for this college.

Question #2: Do you believe that this college will meet your full financial need? If so, clearly indicate what leads you to this decision, such as what you learned from the Net Price Calculator; the college’s website in which they outline their financial aid policy; or a specific institutional scholarship for which you qualify, based on your grades and test scores. 

Question #3: Are you planning to apply for a particular institutional scholarship at this college, such as the Lewis and Elizabeth Dowdy Scholarship at North Carolina A&T or the Elon University Odyssey Scholars Program? If so, indicate the name of the scholarship, application deadline, and amount of the scholarship (i.e., full tuition, full scholarship). 

When a student’s final college list is well researched, and one to which the student is well matched for being offered admission, and for being offered institutional scholarships that will meet the student’s financial need, the list could be as few as 3 schools or as many as 20 schools. However, whatever the number, is not arrived at haphazardly, but strategically.

No matter how academically accomplished, no student is guaranteed admission to any selective college or university. However, the many students profiled on our website were not offered admission to selective colleges and universities, or offered full scholarships because they were ‘lucky.’ Each student developed a strategic plan that guided them in applying to the ‘right’ colleges and for the ‘right’ scholarships.

Note: Students who are registered in our program, or who attend school with our school district partners, receive a 20% discount off of book purchases. Students will pay posted prices at the time of purchase and we will refund 20% of the purchase to their credit card or PayPal account with 24 hours.