Organizational Values

A college education is a determining factor in professional success. Researchers estimate that a college degree is worth $1 million in additional earnings over the course of a career—and deeply affects quality of life in many ways. Unfortunately, each year, nearly 200,000 college-capable high school graduates from low-income families do not enroll. 

The fact is that low-income students who get A’s on standardized tests go to college at the same rate as their higher-income peers who get D’s on the same tests. Thousands of low-income high school graduates who could succeed in college don’t even submit applications. Not every high school in the United States is fortunate enough to presume opportunities in higher education. For those students who have potential to succeed in college, but have never been motivated, an organization is there to help them pursue that dream: College Summit. College Summit strives to change that fact by helping high schools dramatically increase college enrollment rates. College Summit began in 1993 in Washington, D.C. to provide writing skills and the “know-how” for urban youth to enroll in college. Since then, the program has expanded to 13 states and helped thousands of high school seniors pursue a college degree. For many years, a lot of counties and cities that host College Summit have provided scholarships (through sponsors, such as Deloitte) to many College Summit participants to attend a state college. Many school boards have found the need to partner with College Summit to mentor incoming freshmen; raise money to provide scholarships; and hold public forums to discuss the role higher education plays in their lives.

We live in a time when more than ever our values, our core beliefs, are being challenged and questioned. Reaching a common understanding about the inherent beliefs in the organization provides a platform for further explorations of the norms of behavior that help define the organization's culture. Operating values are the principles that govern the actual decision-making process in an organization. The paradox of operating values is that while they are resistant to change, they provide the most leverage for creating significant change in organizations. College Summit holds many exceptional operating values because this organization aims to create sustainable change.

I chose this organization because I have personal ties with it. I was a participant (also known as a Peer Leader) of College Summit in the summer of 2007 at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, and then I became a volunteer in the summers of 2008, 2009, and 2010 as an Alumni Leader at nine workshops in D.C., Maryland, Indiana, and West Virginia. I have seen the background work that all the founders and employees put forth year-round just to make the life-changing summer workshops a success. Through my experience I have seen firsthand their values and they implement them in many ways, such as the following:

• Operating in nearly a dozen states, collaborating with almost 20 urban and rural school districts, and implementing its post-secondary planning program in nearly 100 high schools nationwide.
• Providing training, curriculum, and measurement tools that have helped its partner schools achieve double-digit increases in college enrollment over baseline based on externally verified data, improvements ranging from 10-50 percent.
• Since 1993, supporting more than 20,000 high school students in navigating the college application process, including 7,000 summer workshop participants.
• Training more than 700 teachers and counselors in its in-school post-secondary planning.

The Value of Values

This is such a hard topic to talk about because I never stop to think about this. What do I really value and hold close to my heart? Values mean standards or ideas which most people have about the worth of good qualities such as kindness, freedom, mercy, respect, and love. Your core values are the things that are most important to you in life and influence the way you act, the choices you make, the way you spend your time. The first thing I value, and that comes to mind, is the relationship I have with many people that contribute to the many aspects of my life.



My best friend and I

The relationships that I value the most are the ones with my boyfriend, best friend, and fraternity sisters. There are a lot of things I have learned about myself through the interactions I have had within these relationships. My boyfriend tends to do a lot of self-reflection, which even though it gets annoying after a while, it allows me to realize how important it is for me to sit back and look at how I’m living my life; see what’s missing and what’s working for me. I value this relationship because I feel very comfortable going to him with any problems or issues that I have. I feed off of his positive attitude when I feel the worse, I take into deep consideration his advice, and I really admire his ambitions in life. Now with my best friend I have learned the most. Although I am always the one giving her the shoulder to cry on she does not realize how much of an impact that has had on me. She has struggled on a daily basis with a lot of family drama, but despite her battles it has made her into a very dependent and courageous woman. Those qualities have transpired onto me. My best friend means the world to me. We have seen each other go through one of our toughest times in life, we go on the craziest adventures together, and we have each other’s back no matter what. My fraternity sisters are what bring joy to me every day. As girls we can always talk about everything for hours and enjoy each other’s presence. They create that balance between my busy schedule and the stress that comes with life. Relationships like these are what I value the most in life because they have and continue to shape the way I act and think.

              I also value trust. Two people who have established trust can create more value in their relationship as each has more access to the other’s resources. One can compensate for the other’s weaknesses and each is more free to focus on the things they are personally best at. Two people who work together well will be more able to connect with a third person, and so on. Contagious trust can build fantastic creative communities. Similarly, once distrust is established between two people, their energy gets channeled into defensiveness, which reduces openness, and further diminishes trust, in what can be a vicious circle. Trust doesn’t just happen. It arises from the way people choose to interact. Trust in relationships should not be left to chance. It helps to follow certain practices to maintain and grow trust. One of the stronger principles of humanistic psychotherapy is the observation that love is a verb, not a noun. It is an action, or rather a series of actions, that we do – it is not some magic feeling that we have. This also applies to trust. Trust is created – or destroyed – by our actions. The simplest and most important of these is our ability to keep the promises we make.

Changing the World

          Who am I? That's hard to answer. I am smart. I am enthusiastic. I am patient. I am a lot of things. No matter what words I use to describe myself they truly cannot capture my essence and give you a better picture of who I am. Instead, I have created a more thoughtful presentation of myself that conveys where I come from, what has shaped me, who has affected me, and how I see myself. This quick explanation of myself is called an I Am From poem. Enjoy!

I am from my best friend's fierce attitude, loving soul, and curious mind.

I am from being like a treasure; a rare beauty, hard to find, but worth the search.

I am from THE Ohio State University, home of the Buckeyes.

I am from my mother's soft hands, sensitive heart, and bold character.

I am from my father's stern looks, decisive personality, and patient temper.

I am from a family of past generations who build a pathway for my future out of nothing.

I am from vibrant Latin music, hot tortillas, and a Spanish-speaking house.

I am from taking risks without weighing the consequences, and not regretting my decision.

I am from a Noble familia, Alpha Psi Lambda.

I am from being a daughter, best friend, confidant, aunt, student, sister, teacher, and leader.

          I am from my surroundings, my relationships with people, and my associations with others. In general we are all from our experiences. With that simple thought I plan on changing the world with my experiences. I have already found a basis in which I can change the world and it is where I learned how to use my experiences and the knowledge I have taken from them to enlighten the experiences of others.

          For the past two years I have taken on the position as an Alumni Leader for a non-profit organization, College Summit, that is designed to build the capacity of high schools to raise their college enrollment rate and build the kind of college-going culture that helps all students in the program stay on track academically and graduate college ready. As an Alumni Leader I volunteered for their intensive summer workshops to support and encourage high school seniors through the College Summit process by facilitating activities to help the students achieve the goals of the workshop: (1) completing a college application; (2) learning about financial aid; (3) compiling a list of recommended colleges; (4) writing a personal statement; (5) learning what it means to be a “Peer Leader.” I have been able to share my collegiate experiences with students that are so eager to know more about all the aspects of college life. But the way in which I changed the world the most was by making a connection with the students that really thought college was not for them because of their poor grades, low tests scores, and because they thought they were "dumb". I was able to change their perspective on what intelligence really entails, and after a few days they came to the conclusion that college work is more of putting forth an effort and working hard than it is having a high IQ. I want to change the world by sharing my experiences.