Name: Sheyla

School: HPHS

Graduation: June 2024

Post-graduation plan: I want to go to a small college and study English literature. I applied to all the Seven Sisters schools! It’s really exciting to think about where I’ll go.

How CYD helped: Ms. Forté and Ms. Valentin visited the English classrooms during junior year and dedicated an entire period to talking about the college process. One of my friends recommended CYD’s Summer College Prep program, and it was the best possible choice. In the program, I learned about AtomicMind’s scholarship. I applied and was chosen for their first CYD cohort! AtomicMind advisors worked with me on strategizing and editing my essay and applications.

Activities: I write for the school newspaper and I have my own blog. I’m also the president of HPHS’s Mediation Club. I love helping friends who fell out become close again. I think Covid messed up people’s way of perceiving social situations, and I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of things in the school and see this start to change.

Inspiration: In addition to literature, I love to garden! My father is the superintendent of a building in Queens, so we have backyard access, and there’s a little patch of soil where I experiment with growing flowers.

Dream: I’d like to start my career search in editing or publishing. Ideally I would like to just write, but to write beautifully you have to live a life, and I need something to fund that living. I also think about teaching because my teachers mean so much to me. They’ve gotten me through so much, and I would love to be that for a teenager.