Over the 23 years we have been involved with SEED, we have watched it grow from the germ of an idea into a system of public, college-prep boarding schools that span the US from coast to coast. Each year, SEED DC added students, building up to its first graduating class in 2004. As SEED DC sent its students to college, it expanded its commitment to supporting those students as they traveled that path. And, once out of college, SEED supported its students as they searched for jobs and served their communities. The commitment that SEED has made to the students who attend and their families has continued to inspire us to renew our commitment to support SEED year after year. We are invested in the process that SEED has established, reinforcing both the academic and social/emotional aspects of learning and continuing to serve as a resource to SEED students and their families well beyond their graduation. We have been amazed to watch over two decades as that carefully-crafted experiment has blossomed and born fruit, welcoming new classes of students each year under the caring canopy of SEED.
My father was the first in his family to go to college. He would have gone to a junior college to play basketball, had it not been for a teacher who encouraged him to apply for an academic scholarship to a four-year college. He won that scholarship and received more money to go to a four-year college than to the junior college, and one might say that changed the trajectory of his life—and mine. My husbands’ parents were also first-generation college students, and his father was an immigrant who studied in the US as an exchange student and then moved here for college. Both of our mothers were teachers. Giving us the best education possible was a priority for both families, and even though resources were tight, they figured out a way both to send us to the best schools they could find as well as to college. They took out loans and did whatever it took to give us the gift of education, and that gift opened up the world to us, through the people we met and the opportunities available to us. We both feel like we owe so much gratitude to our parents for the sacrifices they made to provide us with our education and everything that came with it; we also recognize the impact that kind of education gave us and feel inspired to help students and families access similar educational opportunities. We recognize the sacrifice and support the families who send their children to SEED undertake—they want to give their children the best educational experience available to them, and they believe that the college preparatory boarding school model SEED offers provides that opportunity. Students are exposed to inspiring teachers, mentors, foreign travel, internships, a well-thought-out college matching process, and an overall supportive environment that prepare them for success.
We have been particularly impressed with the College Transition and Success (CTS) program that SEED employs to help find the best college situation for their students and with the support that SEED gives to its students once they graduate from SEED. When a family commits itself to a SEED education, SEED commits its personnel and resources to supporting that family throughout their students’ educational experience and even into the world beyond school. That dedication and the network it provides for the students and their families has continued to speak to us and given us even more reason to support SEED.
On a more personal note, in the conversations we have had over time with co-founders Eric Adler and Raj Vinnakota and frequently with SEED leaders Lesley Poole, Chief Executive Officer, and Vincena Allen, Chief Growth Officer, we see the tireless energy, constant innovation, and inspired ideas that have led to the success of SEED as an idea and as an institution as well as to the success of its students. What has stood out to us throughout our time with SEED is the care that its leaders pour into the students, often long after they graduate, and the lifelong commitment SEED has to positive outcomes in its students’ lives. We recently watched a video featuring SEED graduates, in which they shared how the journey through SEED and on to college impacted their lives. The words they spoke perfectly encompassed the reasons we support SEED: the unique opportunity to be exposed to rigorous academics and enriching learning experiences in a safe and supportive environment. We are thankful to have learned in such an environment, and we are happy to support SEED in its endeavors to provide the same to its students so that they can take root, grow, and develop under the nurturing hands of their families and the educators, care takers, and leaders of SEED, to become mighty oaks, fortified by the care and education of their years at SEED and ready to stand strong on their own.
