‘Personal Statement’ – Making the journey to college

By MELISSA WHITWORTH 

“Personal Statement,” a powerful — and hopeful — documentary about the barriers to entering college for low income students, holds firmly to the idea that the American dream is rooted in access to education.

Screened at the Bedford Playhouse and hosted by Rewarding Potential Scholarship, a local nonprofit that helps fund and mentor Fox Lane Students through the college process, the film follows three students from Brooklyn — Karoline, Christine and Enoch — who are the first in their families to graduate high school and attend college. The seniors face economic hardship, parental neglect and abuse, homelessness, and cultural pressure for girls to give up on dreams of college life. 

The concept of the dream of education comes up repeatedly in the film, and it was a theme that followed in the panel discussion after the screening, where three Fox Lane graduates shared their similar stories of making it — against very similar barriers — to college and beyond with the help of funding and mentoring from Rewarding Potential Scholarship. 

At the panel were Kathy DiBiasi, the chair of Rewarding Potential, and Lisa Dunne, one of Fox Lane’s guidance counselors. Since its founding in 2015, RPS has funded and mentored 42 students through their four-year college careers for Fox Lane seniors. In the audience were also members of a local organization called Campus Bound Scholars which similarly supports Westchester students from low income backgrounds through university.

“Fox Lane is a unique place,” Dunne said. “In Bedford you are surrounded by some of the wealthiest, and then there are students who are living at or below the poverty line. 

“Certainly everyone’s journey is very distinct, but lack of finances, not having a college account waiting for you or even partially waiting for you … and to have the idea that it can happen is something that students live with through the process.”

College is a constant conversation for seniors in our area, Dunne said. 

“To come into school every day and hear students talking about their college advisor or their list and to just not even know where to begin is an experience that’s unique to our first generation students,” she said.

Vicki was the first to speak on the panel. She is a first-generation high school and college graduate, leaving Fox Lane High School in 2016 to attend Colgate University where she graduated in 2020 with a double major in biology and Spanish. She was also a Division One athlete for all four years of her studies. 

After graduating, she worked at Mount Sinai as a research assistant on a study that was looking at COVID-19 vaccine efficacy in patients with autoimmune diseases. She is now an associate scientist at a biotech company, working on a class of drugs called biologics which treat cancers, autoimmune diseases and infectious diseases.

“I was fortunate enough to be told at a very young age by my parents that despite our financial situation, the most important thing for me was to focus on my studies. They constantly reminded me that education was the key to a better future,” she said.

“My parents came to this country with the dreams of building a life for their family, leaving everything behind to give my siblings and me the opportunities they never had. I also saw the sacrifices they made to make that happen. My dad worked and still works 12-plus hours a day in a kitchen. My mom cleaned and still cleans houses.”

Maria, who is currently a student at Manhattanville College, also had to combine high school with contributing to her family’s finances. 

“My responsibility as the oldest meant prioritizing financial support for my family. I just wanted to study,” she said. “I felt deep yearning to continue my education but my parents’ belief was that supporting the family was more critical. I refused to give up on my education.”

Maria managed to convince her mother to let her finish high school but also had to work to provide for the family. 

“I have worked as a dishwasher, cashier, babysitter, working on a farm, taking care of horses and cleaning houses,” she said. “Most of the time I have been working in restaurants. It was hard for me because sometimes I wanted to stay after school, join clubs, and learn how to play tennis.”

At Manhattanville College she is studying business management and marketing, writes books for children, and also advocates for newly immigrated students.

At a recent speech she gave at BOCES, several students who had decided to drop out of high school changed their minds after hearing her story.

“Every time that I’m driving to college, I start crying when I’m alone in my car,” she said. “And I say, ‘thank God,’ and thank you to the people who I have met, and those who see me and that help me.”

Val was the third student to speak. She supported her mother during school by cleaning houses on the weekends. During the week, her mother worked in the kitchen at Northern Westchester Hospital, and cleaned houses during the week and weekends to bring in additional income.

“I feel very fortunate but now looking back at it, I realize that it was difficult for me to deal with it, not only physically, but also I feel like psychologically, too. So that was difficult financially.”

She graduated from the University of Bridgeport with honors, went on to graduate school at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse and is licensed and practicing as a physical therapist at a local rehabilitation hospital.

RPS says the screening was their first community event, and will kick off their 2025 scholarship campaign. This year they sponsored and mentored seven Fox Lane students. The hope is for the same number of students to be supported next year.

“When I think of our students and how unique our district is, we have families who have parents with a college education and maybe a wide network of family members who all went to college, and we have newcomers and first generation students, who may be the first generation in their families to graduate high school even.” DiBiasi said of RPS. 

“Many of these students work in addition to attending school to bring in money for their families. At the same time their families want better lives for them. Then these students are in this environment where they see other students striving — and they see opportunity. They think, ‘Could I do this too? Can this dream really come true for me?’”