Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students, and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty

by Beth Zasloff, Joshua Steckel

Overview

When Joshua Steckel left his job as a private school college counselor on New York City's Upper East Side to work at a public high school in Brooklyn, he discovered that for low-income students the competitive game of college admissions has entirely different rules and much higher stakes. The winner of the Ida and Studs Terkel Prize and now available in paperback, Hold Fast to Dreams—which Kirkus called “a powerful story of courage and hope that should inspire others to follow trailblazers like Steckel and his students”—traces the pathways of ten of Josh's students from their obstacle-ridden application processes through their life-changing college experiences.

Including the stories of young people who apply to college from homeless shelters, as undocumented immigrants, and while facing turbulent homes, pregnancies, and health crises, Hold Fast to Dreams offers what Booklist calls “a profound examination of…the kinds of reforms needed to make higher education and the upward mobility it promises more accessible.” It provides hope in its portrayal of the extraordinary intelligence, resilience, and everyday heroics of the young people whose futures are too often lamented or ignored and whose voices, insights, and vision our colleges—and our country—desperately need.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620971321
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	12/01/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Beth Zasloff is the author of Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students, and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty (The New Press), winner of the Studs and Ida Terkel Award. She is co-author with Michael German of Policing White Supremacy (also The New Press). Her work has been featured in the New York Times, The Atlantic, and on NPR. She is a graduate of Yale Universityand the John Hopkins UniversityWriting Seminars and has taught writing at New York University, Johns Hopkins, and in New York City public schools. Read about her editing and co-author work at bethzasloff.com.

Table of Contents

Authors' Note xi

1 Riding Backward: Nkese and Dwight 1

2 With Whom Do You Make Your Permanent Home? Mike and Abby 45

3 Take the Brooklyn Out of You: Nkese and Dwight 69

4 Someone to Step Up and Pave the Way: Ashley 84

5 Away from the Madness: Mike and Abby 105

6 Do You Know What It's Like to Live My Life? Kennetta, Angie, and Rafael 128

7 Finding the Best Fit: Ashley 157

8 Forward Movement: Nkese and Dwight 178

9 Room to Grow: Mike and Abby 194

10 Undocumented American Dream: Aicha and Santiago 209

11 Let's Change Lives: Kennetta, Angie, and Rafael 236

12 The Will to Aspire: Aicha and Santiago 262

Conclusion: College Material 293

A Note to My Students 299

Acknowledgments 300

Notes 303

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Hold Fast to Dreams:
"We've written a lot…about efforts to increase the number of high-achieving low-income students at elite college. The true granularity of that work comes alive in Hold Fast to Dreams."
—Motoko Rich, The New York Times

"In the event the first lady is not in the room to offer guidance to the staffers charged with putting the White House [higher education] directives into action, somebody should slip them a copy of Beth Zasloff and Joshua Steckel's new book, Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students, and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty."
—The Chronicle of Higher Education

"Invaluable both to educators who deal with children from similar backgrounds and to non-educators, who often don't appreciate the overwhelming odds stacked against poor children."
—The Washington Monthly

"Beautifully written. . . . This book reaffirms the essential role teachers can play in the lives of their students, and raises important questions about the failed promises of higher education as the key to class mobility."
—Rethinking Schools

"As the population of America's future college students becomes more diverse, stories such as Hold Fast to Dreams become ever so more important."
—Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

"Hold Fast to Dreams is about the difficulty poorer students have in grasping the American dream. It is essential reading for those who care about the lives of all children."
—Bob Herbert, Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos and former op-ed columnist for the New York Times

"I love it. It was better than a good novel. I couldn't get Santiago's dilemma out of my mind. . . . It's magnificent—thank you!"
—Deborah Meier, author of Will Standards Save Public Education? and founder of the Small Schools movement

"Hold Fast to Dreams is not another manifesto extolling the benefits of college. In this important new book, Joshua Steckel and Beth Zasloff provide a heartfelt analysis of the factors that make it difficult for so many urban youth to access the opportunities that college provides. Drawing on years of direct experience counseling young people for whom college is little more than a faint dream, the authors show us what it takes to bridge the opportunity divide and use education to transform lives and expand opportunity. . . . This book is a must-read."
—Pedro Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York Universityand author of City Schools and the American Dream

"You won't soon forget these powerfully rendered stories of young people battling big odds to go to college, for Hold Fast to Dreams is, all in one, a great read, an educational manifesto, and a testament to the vibrant ability of kids who just need a chance to realize their dreams. This book should be on every policy maker's desk."
—Mike Rose, author of Why School? and Lives on the Boundary

"The important new book Joshua Steckel has written with Beth Zasloff, Hold Fast to Dreams, follows ten students at his former school and illuminates the dogged commitment and insider knowledge required to ensure that all students, regardless of background or circumstance, have access to the educational and economic opportunities that are often closed to many of our nation's young people."
—Richard Stopol, president of NYC Outward Bound Schools

"This is more than a heart-wrenching look at the particular struggles of 10 inner-city students. It is a profound examination of the obstacles faced by low-income students to get into and through college and the kinds of reforms needed to make higher education and the upward mobility it promises more accessible."
—Booklist

From the Publisher

12/23/2013
Steckel was a college counselor at an Upper East Side private school, but left that plum job to make a difference by helping kids at the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum get access to college. Writing with Zasloff (his wife and coauthor of Hope, Not Fear: A Path to Jewish Renaissance), Steckel looks at the lives of 10 students he's helped get to college since he joined the staff of the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies in 2009. Some students have been harassed by both cops and gang members, have spent their lives in and out of homeless shelters, and have gone to bed hungry on more than one occasion. Coupled with administrative indifference and intimidating applications, it's not surprising to learn why some students opted for the path of least resistance. Still, there are bright spots: some students are inspired to change, while others find themselves thriving beyond their imagination in their new academic environment. The book's main problem is that the profiles come across as a retelling of the Great White Hope striding into the ghetto to save minorities. Less cynical readers will find this to be a probing, inspiring, and well-rounded account. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-02-19
Inspiring account of what it takes to overcome class and ethnic barriers to gain acceptance to college. In 2006, Steckel was recruited to a new Brooklyn high school (the Secondary School for Research) from the college admissions program of a private Upper East Side school. He and his wife, Zasloff (co-author: Hope, Not Fear: A Path to Jewish Renaissance, 2008), chronicle the pitfalls he faced as he helped the students navigate the college-admissions process and worked with his existing network of admissions officers and support programs to qualify candidates in innovative and unorthodox ways. The success stories built foundations for others in applying and dealing with the stereotyping, racism and unconscious bias the students encountered as they advanced toward their goals of college admission. Steckel helped the students develop the resources to present their personal stories successfully. They also had to keep their eyes on the prize as they endured brutal misfortunes—e.g., the fire that destroyed Mike's home and put him in a shelter or the gang beating that nearly killed Dwight. Steckel was with them the entire way, celebrating successes and helping them overcome heartbreaking setbacks and bureaucratic inflexibility. He helped the students find programs in which potential college candidates from disadvantaged communities could pre-qualify through competitive recruitment—e.g., Questbridge and Posse, which work with Ivy League schools. The author also worked with them to meet deadlines, be on time for interviews and raise funds through scholarships. Of the 42 members of Steckel's first graduating class, 41 entered college, and they qualified for $1.8 million in scholarships. The next year's class was 75 strong and ready for another new beginning. A powerful story of courage and hope that should inspire others to follow trailblazers like Steckel and his students.

Kirkus Reviews