The Prep-Wesleyan Connection

by: Sandy Tello ’06

For the last 28 years in New York City, a select group of talented young children have applied to undergo 14 months of intense academic training. In addition to their regular school load, 150 fifth graders and 60 seventh graders attend classes several days a week after school and all day Saturday and seven weeks of full–time classes during the summer for two consecutive summers. The purpose of all this hard work? To earn a spot in one of the top day and boarding schools in the country, after which they go on to matriculate at a variety of highly competitive universities.

Prep for Prep was founded in 1978 by Gary Simmons with a mission to “identify and nurture a generation of leaders from minority group backgrounds who have the education, the skills, and the commitment to help guide this society towards a significant narrowing of the gap between the rhetoric of the American Dream and its blemished reality.” Just 10 years after Simmons founded the nonprofit organization, Peter Bordonaro ’75 jumped on board as the director of PREP 9, a smaller subdivision of Prep for Prep geared toward older students. Both programs run simultaneously at day schools in Manhattan.

While Prep for Prep seeks out “youngsters who have a realistic chance of succeeding in a demanding academic program and in a challenging social environment, Prep admissions gives preference to students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.” This means, among other things, that the boarding and day schools who accept prep students are undertaking significant financial responsibilities. These same students go on to apply and matriculate at the best universities in the country, including Wesleyan.

Wesleyan has graduated the most Prep alumni (112) of any elite university. Harvard has the second highest number (105) followed by Yale (93), but both of those schools are significantly larger, with larger endowments and more financial resources at their disposal. In addition, Wesleyan boasts the third highest enrollment rate (32), numbers that are right up there with University of Pennsylvania (36), Cornell (33), Harvard (34), and Columbia (30). Since “nearly every student admitted to Prep requires very substantial scholarship aid in order to attend independent schools,” it is no small feat that Wesleyan has been able to support so many Prep students throughout their four years here. This speaks to Wesleyan’s commitment to need–based financial aid and to student diversity.

Many Prep/Wesleyan alumni have gone back to Prep for Prep in leadership capacities, both fulfilling Prep’s goal of nurturing socially conscious leaders and also paying tribute to Wesleyan by carrying on its tradition of activism and the passion for education. Peter Bordonaro ’75, the first Wesleyan graduate to become involved, is now the deputy executive director and director of academic programs for Prep. Mr. B, as he is affectionately known to many, worked with Tarmla Small ’98, the assistant director of Prep9, who has recently left to pursue a legal career. John Hall ’65, although not a Prep alumnus, sits on Prep for Prep’s board of trustees and contributes generously to both Prep and Wesleyan; he says of the relationship: “It comes as no surprise to me that Wes is at the head of the list given its long-term commitment to students of color.” Of the younger alumni, Judyvelli Torres ’04 and Jonathon Souza ’04 are both working at Prep for Prep as post placement counselors.

At Wesleyan, Prep students thrive both on campus and off, usually engaged in various and diverse social and academic student groups; this is one of the reasons the University is so appealing to Prep alumni. What better vehicle to perpetuate Prep’s mission and foster socially conscious, active leaders and role models than Wesleyan University. By that same token, what better way to seek out academically strong, engaged, and socially active minority students than by using Prep for Prep as a resource? The relationship between Prep and Wesleyan continues to be a credit to both prestigious institutions.