Natasha Dhanraj hit the bottom operating when she began as a freshman at York School in 2024. By means of her participation in the Seek for Training, Elevation and Information (SEEK) program, she benefited from a spread of assets that included tutoring tailor-made to her tutorial wants, monetary help, peer mentoring, personalised counseling and profession steerage.
In her brief time at CUNY, she has change into an engaged and promising scholar whose participation in campus initiatives opened her as much as turning into a SEEK mentor, guiding new college students and giving them the form of assist she received acclimating to varsity life. She credit this system with shaping her academic journey. “If I wasn’t a SEEK student, I don’t know what my college experience would be,” she mentioned. “I work at SEEK, I met my friends through the summer program — I don’t think I would have the foundation I do without it.”
This yr marks the sixtieth anniversary of SEEK, the nation’s first state-funded tutorial alternative initiative. This system traces its origins to the Civil Rights Motion, when scholar activists labored with neighborhood leaders to push for higher fairness and entry in greater training for Black and Hispanic college students and others from underserved communities. Legislative leaders, together with Meeting Members Percy Sutton and Shirley Chisholm, heeded this name and moved to get SEEK signed into state regulation in 1966. Since then, this system and its neighborhood school counterpart School Discovery (CD) have helped upwards of 100,000 college students to entry and full a university diploma.
I had the prospect to be a part of about 100 present SEEK college students and workers who traveled to Albany for the Caucus Weekend legislative convention earlier this month to assist mark the anniversary. A few of them represented our College with nice distinction throughout CUNY’s luncheon as they met and heard from elected leaders together with Lawyer Normal Tish James, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Meeting Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Chief Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
A separate occasion that day included a panel that was moderated by Keisha Sutton-James, the granddaughter of Percy Sutton and former deputy borough president of Manhattan, who powerfully mirrored on this system’s persevering with capacity to uplift college students (and in this current NY1 interview). Additionally collaborating was Meeting Member Khaleel Anderson, a Queens School graduate who mentioned being a part of SEEK helped form his expertise in addition to his appreciation for public service.
“SEEK challenged me from day one, strengthened my academic skills, and helped me understand how to navigate spaces that can feel unfamiliar or intimidating at first,” Anderson mentioned. “It reminded me that opportunity and support can change the trajectory of someone’s life, and that’s something I carry with me every day in my work as an Assembly member.”
In all, the weekend was an energizing begin to the many celebrations unfolding throughout our campuses this yr.
Standing subsequent to Natasha as she addressed attendees on the program was Michael Valero, a York School junior who helped steward the revival of SEEK’s mentorship program after the pandemic.
Whilst he overcame his personal private challenges, Michael helped present a welcoming setting for York’s SEEK contributors. His expertise provided one other pointed reminder of SEEK’s success in serving to generations of CUNY college students and confirmed why it has impressed related packages throughout the nation.
“Being a SEEK student has made me more aware of what other students are going through,” Michael mentioned. “The community is really what makes it such a great program, especially because everyone comes from a similar walk of life. They know where you’re coming from.”
Matos Rodríguez is the chancellor of The Metropolis College of New York (CUNY), the most important city public college system in america.
