As parents, we want our children to have all the opportunity in the world. Opportunity begins with a great education.

Register for this series and hear from students who successfully navigated public high schools and are attending top tier universities across the country.

Micheal Brown (Stanford University)

You probably remember hearing about the Houston student who was accepted into 20 top tier schools and receiving a full scholarship offer to each of them. That’s Micheal! In addition to being on his high school tennis and debate teams, as well as the diversity and Young Democrats Club, Micheal mentored youth via the World Youth Foundation and SWAG to College. Micheal was awarded the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, Coca-Cola Scholarship, Gates Scholarship, GE-Reagan Scholarship, National Horatio Alger Scholarship and Ron Brown Scholarship and was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar.

After graduating with an International Baccalaureate Diploma, Micheal spent his summer working remotely for the Ron Brown Scholars Program and completed a service trip in the Dominican Republic. Micheal currently studies economics at Stanford University and is involved in many organizations there.

Olivia Ferdinand (Harvard University)

Olivia is a sophomore at Harvard, where she is pursuing a concentration in Government with a secondary in Economics and a citation in Spanish. Last summer, she interned in the House of Representatives for Congressman Joe Kennedy (MA-04). Also active on campus, Olivia serves as the elected Treasurer of the school’s Institute of Politics and the Chair of Women’s Initiative in Leadership.

Olivia said one of the things that keeps kids from having opportunities to attend schools like Harvard is believing their freshman year of high school is a freebie. She shares 3 really great pieces of advice about how to build relationships with teachers, how to spend your summers and the one thing she wasn't prepared for when she got to Harvard (and how your child can be).

Melisa Campos (Wellesley College, Posse Scholar)

Melisa is a first year at Wellesley College, where she is planning to major in Neuroscience. She is an active member on campus as a Posse Scholar and a member of Wellesley's Latin@ cultural organization, Mezcla.

As a first generation college student, there was a lot Melisa didn't know about matriculating to college. She'll share some of the challenges she's faced, how high school prepared her, and what's she's had to learn along the way. Melisa is a graduate of KIPP Houston High, a part of the national KIPP network.

Naureen Ali (Crumbine Ed College Advisor)

Naureen has had years of working closely with families as they prepare for, apply, and transition to college. An award-winning educator, with B.S in Biology and Health: Science, Society & Policy from Brandeis University, she’s helped students matriculate to some of our nation's finest Ivy-League Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, and National Research Institutions. (See a list of colleges and universities to which Naureen's advisees have been admitted here.)

What happens when you register for this series:

1. You’ll receive an email from me welcoming you to the series.

2. Within 24 hours, you’ll receive an email from Crumbine Ed’s Online Parent School inviting you to set up an account.

3. Log on and have immediate access to the first sessions included in “What It Really Takes to Be Ready for College” . Each of the sessions will include a downloadable PDF with key takeaways and an audio file in the event you’d like to listen to the interviews on your way to work.

**Note: Each participating student will receive 10% of the series proceeds.