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My first steps
My first steps
The first thing that I thought about when deciding what I would take on for this project was picking something that I was passionate about. There is no point in doing a year-long project about something that you don't even care about. When thinking about this, I thought about my childhood and what made me the person I am today, and I decided that basketball had that impact on me. Connecting basketball with the requirement for this project of helping out my community, I came up with setting up free basketball lessons for underprivileged children who may not have the resources or oppurtunities to get high-end basketball training.
That first thing after deciding what my project would be led me to make an easily accessible website that you can find at https://nextupballers.squarespace.com.
I then tried reaching out to charter schools in the areas with the highest poverty rates in the city, wondering if they could help out with getting students to participate in my sessions. This strategy was very ineffective and I did not receive any help from the schools and no students got back to me. I then talked to Ms. Warner-Haakmat and Mr. McDonald who connected me with a ton of people all around the city. This resulted in the sign-up of my only student, Aaron, who is part of the Oliver Scholars Program. This program is a non-profit organization whose mission is to prepare high-achieving Black and Latinx students from underserved New York City communities for success at top independent high schools and prestigious colleges.
I then tried reaching out to charter schools in the areas with the highest poverty rates in the city, wondering if they could help out with getting students to participate in my sessions. This strategy was very ineffective and I did not receive any help from the schools and no students got back to me. I then talked to Ms. Warner-Haakmat and Mr. McDonald who connected me with a ton of people all around the city. This resulted in the sign-up of my only student, Aaron, who is part of the Oliver Scholars Program. This program is a non-profit organization whose mission is to prepare high-achieving Black and Latinx students from underserved New York City communities for success at top independent high schools and prestigious colleges.
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