Coby Greer ’13 is a member of Bridging the Gap (BTG), a CWS community service program at John D. O’Bryant High School in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Coby and other BTG mentors are matched with a high school junior or senior, and serves as a mentor to better prepare the student for the college application process.
Read below for Coby’s personal account of volunteering with Bridging the Gap:
The [BTG] program is especially dear to my heart because it has given me the opportunity to combine my passions – working for social justice in health and serving as a resource to youth. I’ve had the privilege of working with many bright students, some of whom have a strong interest in public health. One student, Fran, watched her mother suffer from a degenerative disease and accrue medical bills that forced her family to file for bankruptcy. Fran was determined to ensure women like her mother would not endure such hardships. She was driven to attend college, but lacked the knowledge about the application process and felt overwhelmed. That’s where BTG came in.
Fran and the other mentees worked hard and in my first year of BTG, our program successfully completed over 40 college applications. Fran went on to win the Christian A. Herter Memorial Scholarship, will have her undergraduate education funded at whatever institution she attends, and is now helping other students as they navigate the college application process.
To meet Coby and learn about more than a dozen other service organizations on campus, be sure to stop by the Service Fair on Wednesday, Sept. 12th from 12:30 to 2 pm in the Multi-faith space (lower level of the Chapel). We’ll have free ice cream too!