It is my pleasure to introduce myself as Evelande Louis. I am a rising senior who intends to go to college next year. Coming from a low-income family means there isn't much to do, especially if you're a newcomer to this country.  

For the past few years, UB has been an important part of my life. It has been an extremely useful program for me. I have been in it since I graduated middle school. The first year I enrolled, I did not have much English knowledge. I struggled with advanced vocabulary a lot, but thankfully I had Mr. Wiegand, a teacher in the program and a faculty advisor this year. I received a lot of helpful advice from him. He gave me a number of websites that would be helpful to ESL students. 

As a sophomore, I could speak English like every other student, and I gained more and more proficiency day by day. We toured colleges, do volunteer hours, and even went on fun field trips together related to education, such as STEM. In addition, we get a stipend for participation. With this money, students are able to buy extra stuff like school supplies.

I was really blind and brainless when it came to the college process. With the help of this program, I discovered a lot. I got better at writing essays, taking notes, I improved my communication skills, and was able to accept new challenges, like signing up for the IB program.

 I had the opportunity to do the National Student Leadership Congress program. How? UB was the one who was able to pay for us in order for us to attend. It was hundreds of dollars per student. I was able to win a lot of prizes, just because I participated.  Finding a program such as UB can make a huge difference. What is UB, you might be wondering? I define UB as an educational program that gives low-income students the chance to experience new things while helping them achieve an education.

I am the student leader of this program. As the student leader, attendance is one of the most important things. The first thing I do before any field trip is making sure I know who is attending. In addition to making sure they sign in and have their phone number in case of emergency. One of my jobs is to make sure everyone is doing their jobs. As a leader, I always make sure the students don’t get lost, especially when we are out of town. I do all of those things in an effort to ensure their safety. Also, I talk to many students when they need advice on their next year in high school. 

One of the weirdest things I see is that there is not one other school in Stamford that has this program. It’s only Stamford High school. Hearing the news that this program won’t be renewed next year was shocking news. I really didn’t excerpt it and I think, it's a crime, in my opinion. Why do I think that? Well, so many low-income students rely on this program for extra help after school, just because they are struggling with hard subjects.