CDI Announces Al Neely Scholarship Winners - May 26, 2011

	President Nina Marks presents Diego Hernandez with the Al Neely Scholarship

Collegiate Directions proudly announces the 2011 inaugural recipients of its Al Neely Scholarship: Diego Hernandez (Babson College, Class of 2013), Binh Pham (Lafayette College, Class of 2013), and Annie Sim (Boston College, Class of 2013).

These scholarships provide funding, approximately $1,500 per award, to allow CDI Scholars to take advantage of meaningful but unpaid internships and summer programs. They honor the memory of Mr. Al Neely, a loyal supporter of CDI, and are made possible by a generous donation from Archstone, where Al was chief development officer.

These scholarships are facilitating some wonderful summer plans! Diego will work alongside other students from Babson, MIT, and Harvard to develop a strategic plan for Made By Survivors, a humanitarian organization in Boston. Binh will join the Winkler Botanical Preserve, where he will work as a Camp Winkler Summer Intern and help educate children about the environment and conservation. Annie will build upon her interest in communications by participating in CDI�s Service Learning Internship, where she will focus on communications and media outreach, event planning, and professional development.

Congratulations to this year�s recipients and best wishes for an educational summer!

"One of the Best"
Collegiate Directions, Inc. was selected by The Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the finest smaller nonprofits in the Greater Washington, DC area.

www.collegiatedirections.org

Celebrating Two Gates Millennium Scholars - April 26, 2011

	Phung Tran and Jackie Mutai Koskey

Collegiate Directions proudly announces that two of its Scholars from the Class of 2011, Phung Tran and Jackie Mutai Koskey, have been awarded the Gates Millennium Scholarship. Both are seniors at Wheaton High School. Their awards mark the fourth consecutive year that Collegiate Directions Scholars have won the scholarship. To date, over 10% of CDI high school seniors have been named Finalists, while 7% have been named winners.

In this fiercely competitive college admissions and financial aid climate, the Gates Millennium Scholarship represents one of the most selective and prestigious awards. The program provides 1,000 students with full good-through-graduation scholarships to use at any college or university of their choice. This year, the program received over 23,000 applications, making its selection process even more competitive than Harvard’s.

We are thrilled for Jackie and Phung! For additional details, please click here for a full press release.

"One of the Best"
Collegiate Directions, Inc. was selected by The Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the finest smaller nonprofits in the Greater Washington, DC area.

www.collegiatedirections.org

A Warm Welcome for our Newest Scholars and Parents - March 30, 2011

	Parents and younger siblings of 2012 CDI Scholar Veronica Moreno

Collegiate Directions welcomed the Class of 2012 with a spirited Program Orientation on March 4th. Our newest class is already immersed in tutoring and test preparation classes. They are also honing the organizational skills they'll need to succeed in college.

On March 19th, at the Parent Welcome Brunch & Orientation, their families joined the team to learn what the Scholars will be doing in the program, and to discuss future expectations. Collegiate Directions partners with parents to ensure student success through clear communication and shared goals. Without question, we have a great group of Scholars (and families) in the Class of 2012. They are featured in our hot-off-the-press Spring newsletter, Milestones.

"One of the Best"
Collegiate Directions, Inc. was selected by The Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the finest smaller nonprofits in the Greater Washington, DC area.

www.collegiatedirections.org

Announcing Inaugural Al Neely Scholarships - February 15, 2011

	Al Neely (1945-2010)

Collegiate Directions, Inc. proudly welcomes applications for the first Al Neely Scholarship awards. These scholarships provide funding (approximately $1,500 per award) to allow CDI college Scholars to take advantage of prestigious but unpaid internships or summer programs.

The scholarships honor the memory of Mr. Al Neely who was a loyal supporter of CDI. His wife, Dr. Carla Elliott-Neely, was a former Trustee. Archstone, where Mr. Neely served as chief development officer, recently made a significant donation to CDI in his memory. We have reserved a portion of this gift to award three Al Neely Scholarships to deserving college sophomores, juniors, and seniors each year.

Eligible CDI Scholars are invited to submit their applications by the deadline: March 11, 2011. Applicants will be evaluated on the basis of merit, need, and CDI and college involvement.

"One of the Best"
Collegiate Directions, Inc. was selected by The Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the finest smaller nonprofits in the Greater Washington, DC area.

www.collegiatedirections.org

Collegiate Directions Hosts Financial Aid Workshop - January 20, 2011

	Scholars and families complete the FAFSA

Applying for financial aid can sometimes make completing college applications look like the easy part. And the race to apply is on: Aid is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, and the 2011 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form became available on January 1st.

To help Scholars and their families make sense of the FAFSA and financial aid more generally, Collegiate Directions hosted its annual "Financial Aid Workshop" on Tuesday, January 17th. Featured speaker Wendy Maldonado, Financial Aid Outreach Counselor at Montgomery College, advised an audience of about thirty parents and Scholars on completing the FAFSA and navigating the financial aid maze.

Attendees were then invited to complete their FAFSA on the spot in Collegiate Directions' new Winkler Computer Lab. Says Program Director Ana Hilton, "We wanted to provide a one-stop-shop for parents and Scholars to understand financial aid and apply for it."

We invite Scholars and family members with additional questions about financial aid to contact Ms. Hilton at ahilton@collegiatedirections.org.

"One of the Best"
Collegiate Directions, Inc. was selected by The Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the finest smaller nonprofits in the Greater Washington, DC area.

www.collegiatedirections.org

Celebrating Our Friends and Supporters at Year's End - December 17, 2010

Happy holidays! We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of CDI's wonderful supporters. We hope you have received the winter edition of CDI’s Milestones Newsletter, mailed earlier this week. Please find the Milestones e-version attached here.

Al, Carla, and Elizabeth Neely

CDI dedicates this issue to the memory of Mr. Al Neely (1945-2010). Al and his wife, Dr. Carla Elliott-Neely, a former CDI trustee, have been lead supporters of our program for many years. We also gratefully acknowledge a $100,000 gift from Archstone, where Al served as Chief Development Officer. As a tribute to Al, CDI will reserve a portion of Archstone’s generous gift to award three Al Neely Scholarships to deserving college juniors and seniors each year.

This issue also marks the fifth anniversary of CDI, a milestone itself. As we look forward to increasing our reach and impact in the coming year, we welcome two new members to our team. Alexandra Economou joins us as Special Assistant to the President for Strategic Communication, and Greg Lewis joins us as a new counselor on the program staff.

"One of the Best"
Collegiate Directions, Inc. was selected by The Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the finest smaller nonprofits in the Greater Washington, DC area.

www.collegiatedirections.org

A Milestone for CDI’s Milestones Newsletter - August 20, 2010

CDI’s First Service Learning Summer Intern
Isel Otero-Vera (Bryn Mawr College, 2012)
Translates CDI’s Newsletter to Spanish

CDI Scholar Isel (Walter Johnson HS Class of 2008) recently completed a summer Service Learning Internship at our headquarters. She dug in and helped with various projects including enhancing communications among all Classes of CDI Scholars through innovative uses of social media, assisting with program research, and translating our summer newsletter. Click here to see the Newsletter in both English and Spanish. Shortly after her internship, Isel headed to Chile for a study abroad program. She’s loving the experience, meeting other international students, and taking courses, including Conservation and Management of Environmental Resources, and History of Social and Economic movements in Chile.

During her first two years at Bryn Mawr, Isel served as a Community Diversity Assistant in the Office of Intercultural Affairs and guided tours for the Admissions Office. She also participated in Mujeres, an affinity group for Latina women at Bryn Mawr, Project Educate in Africa, and the college’s Leadership Empowerment and Advancement Program.

We are so proud of Isel’s accomplishments!

“One of the Best”
Collegiate Directions, Inc. was selected by The Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the finest smaller nonprofits in the Greater Washington, DC area.

www.collegiatedirections.org

PRE-PRESS PREVIEW - July 8, 2010
“Ask the Experts”
Advice from Theresa O. Atta
CDI’s Executive Director -- to be published in the
2011 College Access & Opportunity Guide

Theresa’s article, “Finding and Building Your Network: Are You Connected?” is now available on the Center for Student Opportunity’s Web site and will be included in the hardcopy 2011  Guide, which will be released in July.

In her article, Theresa encourages students to use their networks of family, friends, teachers and counselors for advice, support and motivation during the challenging college application process. (Click here to read the article.)

The Center for Student Opportunity is a non-profit organization that promotes college access and opportunity among first-generation and historically underserved student populations by serving as a clearinghouse of important information on local, regional, and national programs that assist the target student population in college guidance, preparation and admission.  Their Web site features student-written blogs, guides to school support programs, and links to resources for students.

“One of the Best”
Collegiate Directions, Inc. was selected by The Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the finest smaller nonprofits in the Greater Washington, DC area.

www.collegiatedirections.org

May 10, 2010

CDI Scholar José Otero is featured in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s lead story this week!

Photo: José (far right) with his family at his sister Isel’s high school graduation. Isel, CDI Class of 2008, is a rising junior at Bryn Mawr College and is looking forward to a semester abroad in Santiago, Chile.

As seen on the homepage of The Catalogue for Philanthropy …
Collegiate Directions in Chronicle of Higher Ed

“One of the Best”
Collegiate Directions, Inc. was selected by The Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the finest smaller nonprofits in the Greater Washington, DC area.

www.collegiatedirections.org

Nina Marks with a CDI Scholar

In last Friday’s Washington Post Op-Ed, “Simplifying the college aid maze,” CDI President Nina Marks made a bold call to college and university leaders to develop better tools for students to decipher and compare aid offers and make an informed college choice.

After citing the success and growing popularity of the Common Application, now used by more than 400 institutions of higher education, she suggested that participating colleges and universities take the lead in simplifying the delivery of financial aid information by using a Common Aid Offer form.

Changing the delivery in both format and timing would allow low-income and first-generation-to-college students to make an apples-to-apples comparison of their financial aid offers well before the May 1 response date.  This would be a small step for institutions and a giant leap for students who must carefully weigh dollars and cents to pursue their dreams.

The response to the Op-Ed has been overwhelmingly positive, and it was followed by even more good news for CDI this week.  We are very proud to have two Gates Millennium Scholars in CDI’s Class of 2010!  We are also delighted to have had six Finalists and four Gates Scholars between 2008 and 2010. The GMS program has become increasingly competitive.  Three years ago it had 13,000 applicants, but the numbers have increased to almost 21,000 in the past two years.  Although we don't know all of the final numbers, it looks as though CDI Scholars captured more than 10% of the GMS awards in the state of Maryland and 25% of those in Montgomery County.

“One of the Best”
Collegiate Directions, Inc. was selected by The Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the finest smaller nonprofits in the Greater Washington, DC area.

www.collegiatedirections.org

Nina W. Marks

Last week CDI’s Founder and President, Nina Marks, appeared on NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show to address the timely topic of the Student Loan Overhaul. Other participants included: Kim Clark, senior writer for U.S. News & World Report; William Wells, Director of Financial Aid at Wake Forest University; and James Boyle, President, College Parents of America.

You can hear the show by clicking on the link below, then pressing the “Listen” icon. http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-03-30/student-loan-overhaul

“One of the Best”
Collegiate Directions, Inc. was selected by The Catalogue for Philanthropy as one of the finest smaller nonprofits in the Greater Washington, DC area.

www.collegiatedirections.org