One of the college application sections that often makes students stress and fret is the personal statement section. For many students, the personal statement combines the stress of writing with the stress of communicating one’s life story in a limited space. The task of writing the statement can feel overwhelming, so “I Have A Dream” Foundation – Los Angeles (IHADLA) students (whom we call “Dreamers”) receive essay writing support to help them write effective personal statements during the stressful college application process. Recently we helped our Dreamers through this process by providing them college prep help at personal statement workshops, which we hosted with help from CollegePath LA.

The tutors at our college prep workshops focused on helping the Dreamers with whatever stage of the personal statement writing process they needed help with — whether that was the brainstorming stage, the first revision stage, or the final edits stage. Our tutors for this event were very generous and helpful volunteers and IHADLA staff and board members who had received training from CollegePath LA. Among the volunteers were IHADLA CEO Debra Fine and IHADLA board member Pam Miller, who were both thrilled to be able to help the Dreamers directly with their college essays.

The Dreamers greatly appreciated the tutors’ help, and thanks to their assistance they now are more comfortable and confident in their ability to craft a great personal statement. After completing the workshop, one of the Dreamers stated,

“I got a sense of comfort knowing the status of my personal statement and common app essay.”

When asked about what they got from the workshop, another Dreamer added,

“I got a sense of readiness for this stressful college process.”

Finally, Chinyere Osuigwe, another Dreamer who attended the workshop, added,

“I wouldn’t get this experience anywhere else, so I am extremely grateful.”

Our generous volunteers were more than welcome, and they were honored to be able to help IHADLA prepare these bright young Dreamers for college.

Thank you very much to all the volunteers who helped our Dreamers at the personal statement workshop and to CollegePath LA for training our volunteers and helping them be effective tutors!

How You Can Help

If you’d like to volunteer for IHADLA events like this college prep workshop or help IHADLA and the Dreamers through another method (such as by donating or becoming a mentor or Dream speaker), please visit our How You Can Help page.