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Worth The Investment
From Mentorship to Scholarship: Uncovering How to Really Become a Student Worth the Investment
Many people believe preparing for college starts during the high school senior year and preparing for a career starts during college. This is far from the truth. To become a student worth the investment of quality college admission and valuable scholarship opportunities, the work can begin as early as pre-school. And it takes a dedicated combination of family, school, and community supports. But how can you be sure you're doing the right things to assemble the right combination of these supports to reach students’ education and career goals? How do students identify what career is the right one to pursue and what level of post-secondary education will get them there? And what activities are the right activities to show a student is worth the investment of the coveted scholarship?
In the decades of the 80s and 90s, just over the George Washington Bridge from New York City to New Jersey, in the unassuming, urban town of Paterson, a dedicated village of people of different backgrounds and cultures played unique and pivotal roles in the lives of the students in their community and in particular the life of author, Taliah Givens. In this uniquely portrayed memoir, Taliah endeavors to share the story of how a dynamic combination of family, school, and community mentors helped her discover, develop, and demonstrate her potential. Through this growth journey she uncovers how she developed her inner-academic, artist, athlete, activist, and architect - the five areas of achievement - to become a student worth the investment.
The priceless work of individuals' self-sacrifice of time, talent, and treasure helped shape the future of many children in this community during the height of the war on drugs and rises in gang violence. It is the untold story in the historic patchwork of the place they called "The Silk City.” Woven within her story, Taliah highlights how common youth activities can develop into strategic sparks of inspiration guiding youth toward their passion and how significant a seemingly insignificant opportunity or gesture can positively change a youth's perspective for her entire life. And for one youth, these mentors helped her grow from being just a little black girl born with a speech impediment to becoming a history-making teenager, speaking and leading on a national level, achieving full college scholarships, and gaining the confidence to pursue the rare goal of becoming a black female engineer.
It is a story of how average can become exceptional; how preparation over time meets opportunities that open doors to success. If it can happen for one student, then it can happen for many others because all students are worth the investment.
Worth The Investment
Student and Parent Study Guide
Through this companion workbook guide author, Taliah Givens, leads students with their parents on their own growth journey to answer this question for themselves – How do I become a student worth the investment? This workbook is designed to help students unpack each of the growth steps with the goal of developing themselves into strategic teenagers who understand that becoming a student worth the investment of others begins with how you invest in yourself. With each activity and journaling exercise, students will step through the process determining how much time they are spending in extra-curricular activities towards mastery of talent along the 5 areas of achievement - Academics, Artistry, Athletics, Activism, and Architecture.
This work serves as students’ guide to (1) discovering their GRIT – gifts, resources, interests, and talents, (2) uncovering some necessary areas of skills and character growth, (3) defining their mentoring community, and (4) articulating for themselves how they have and can continue to develop and demonstrate their knowledge, skills, and abilities toward mastery. By the end of this journey, students will have constructed their very own career-tree. Their personalized career-tree can illuminate for students why they are worth the investment because they will have recorded the fruit of their work as visual evidence of what they have accomplished through their activities and efforts both in school and outside of school.
Finally, the pinnacle of the career-tree will be the students’ identification and research of dream careers that align with the areas of achievement. By learning how to seek out and cultivate mentorship, students build spaces for themselves where they can scaffold up to higher levels of skills and education to grow their talents towards the career and higher education they desire to achieve.
This is the work that separates the average student from the exceptional student. It is where preparation over time meets opportunities that opens doors to success. If it can happen for one student, then it can happen for many others because all students are worth the investment.