By Lorenzo W. Snelling | Special to Le Floridien
Path to College is South Florida’s best kept secret.
The Palm Beach County non-profit college readiness after school program helps send low income students to top colleges and universities, giving them new hope of continuing their education and earning four-year degrees.
Since the program was launched in 2017, over 1,000 Title One high school students benefited from the program by being accepted into top notch universities and colleges including Harvard, University of Florida, Florida State University, Georgia Tech and Emroy.
Several Haitian-Americans including Wenedereley Ulyssee and Kimberly Nertilus are realizing their potential and on the path of achieving a four-year college degree.
Wensdereley Ulyssee, who lives in West Palm Beach, said his future seemed bleak growing up in poverty until he enrolled at Path to College.
“I didn’t know how to get there [college] but now I do and I’m going forward,” said Ulyssee who’s been accepted to attend the University of Florida to study engineering.
Haitian-American Kimberly Nertilus, a former Path to College Fellow, is a first-year college student at Washington University in St. Louis, double majoring in anthropology and computer science.
She said despite very high graduation rates in Palm Beach County high schools, centers like Path to Collge could help increase college attendance rate because the center would ideally lessen the burden on parents and school administrators.
“It’s very important to have a center like this in Lake Worth,” Nertilus said. “Because as a low income student myself, schools in this area, or in Title I schools overall, they don’t offer as much resources and support that other top schools would,” she said.
The fellowship program targets students living in impoverished areas who lack academic and financial resources to prepare them for long-term careers and plans to expand in Broward County in the future.
The program fills the void by preparing students for college entrance exams and filling out college applications, and improving their academics in schools, among other requirements to get accepted into the best colleges and universities.
Mary Beth Mudrick, Senior Director of Development for Path to College, said 110 high school students are currently enrolled in the program and reached about 1,000 kids through its college prep workshops.
Mudrick said 100 percent of students go on to universities and colleges with little or no debt with 60 percent of students being accepted to top-tier institutions, which she estimates equates to “an additional 21 percent increase in their earning potential.
The program is currently renting spaces within walking distances for students who lack transportation.
But all that will change soon once Path to College moves into a 5,000 square foot building near Lake Worth High School, 1701 Lake Worth Road, which is being converted into the Catapult Youth Mentoring Center.
“There’s a tool of path for students to take but not from people who would benefit from it the most,” Mudrick said. “Our program reaches out and serves low income students with support services for their academics to become eligible to be accepted into top colleges.”
Murdick said Blacks benefit the most from Path to College with 51.9 percent enrolled in the program followed by 35.4 percent Hispanics, 5.1 percent Asian Pacific and 2.5 percent white.
Each student is paired with a mentor and tutors to help them improve their grades in schools and SAT and ACT scores, and suggest programs to participate in school to look attractive on a college application.
Christine Syvain, founder and executive director for Career Path, founded the program after teaching a journalism program at a Title One school in Palm Beach County and discovered the disparity between low income students and their counterparts from wealthier families.
Syvain, a former journalist and associate producer of documentaries for PBS and HBO, wanted to help poverty-stricken students get a college education but took it up another level by getting them accepted into big name colleges and universities.
She realized a difference between kids who can afford to prepare for college and the ones who also had bright futures but not the finances to help them prepare for college.
Syvain said Path to College mentors play a major role in kids’ lives, boosting their confidence and helping guide them toward their academic and career achievements.
“In 2023, we had 100 students and 100 local professionals come down and encourage our students and help them prepare to be college standouts we know they can be,” she said.
Dr. Melissa Neider, academic program manager for Path to College, said the non-profit helps kids find their way to long-term success.
“There’s such a need for what we do because students seem lost,” she said. “They don’t know in terms of getting into college and we really helped paved that path for them.”
Melany Camaraza said Path to College opened many doors for her future.
“Path of College has meant a lot to me because it has prepared me for college opportunities,” she said.
