June 20, 2013

Local: Education

Free coaching available for low-income students

BY: LISA GARTNER SEPTEMBER 29, 2012 | 8:00 PM
Leave a comment

Some college coaches are dedicating portions of their practice to pro bono work for low-income students.

One year after Nina Marks founded Marks Education, she began the nonprofit Collegiate Directions to help Maryland public school students who qualify for free or reduced lunch plans prepare for college. Through a competitive application progress, Collegiate Directions admits about 25 students each year for both counseling and tutoring.

Marks says she splits her time evenly between her private practice and pro bono work.

"I used to be a teacher, you know, and the core value is that just because you lack resources and income doesn't mean you should lack choice," Marks says.

In its first class of students, Collegiate Directions took on Merab Okeyo, a senior at Bethesda's Walter Johnson High School who had come to the U.S. from Kenya in 2002. Because of her visa status, Okeyo wasn't eligible for federal financial aid.

The nonprofit helped Okeyo finance her education through merit scholarships and, when those fell through, connected her with a job so that she could work her way through the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

She graduated this year with a degree in nursing and was presented with an award for "the baccalaureate student who consistently demonstrated an outstanding level of professional nursing practice and caring for patients."

View article comments Leave a comment
Author:

Lisa Gartner

Examiner Staff Writer - education
The Washington Examiner

More from washingtonexaminer.com

Related Articles

From the Weekly Standard

  • June 17, 1953

    Today, speaking at the Brandenburg Gate, President Obama paid appropriate tribute to the brave East Germans who rebelled 60 years ago against Communist dictatorship:

    Read More...
  • Problems of the Second Generation

    The Boston Marathon bombings highlighted, once again, the challenges of assimilating Muslim youth. And while the onus of accountability ought not rest exclusively on Muslim Americans, it...

    Read More...
  • Release Osama Bin Laden’s Files on Taliban

    The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it was moving forward with its attempt to negotiate with the Taliban, which has opened a long-awaited political office in Doha, Qatar. The...

    Read More...