Success Series: How to succeed when you're afraid or 5 things to help you move forward even when you're scared

A student asks a question about being terrified of starting college, and in this video I share the 5 things I do to help me move forward even when I'm afraid...which is a lot.

Check out the video on YouTube here!

From Puerto Rico to Harvard Square

I'm writing this blog today from Harvard Square. That's where I am right now. Me. And I can hardly believe it.

Tomorrow I'll be interviewing for Harvard's EdLD program and to be honest it's still very surreal. 

I bought a Harvard T-Shirt today (okay and a beanie and sweater...) just to see if wearing it made it feel any more real. Still nothing. 

I can't believe I'm here. I really can't. 

Young Isabel, my grandma.

In 2012 I published an article about the morning my grandma, Isabel, died. She was born in Puerto Rico and did not continue her education past the 4th grade. The article explains how on the day she died my master's diploma arrived in the mail.

In that poignant moment when I pulled out my diploma, wiping tears away from the recent news of my grandma's death, that it was evident that a degree is so much more than a piece of paper.

It is opportunity. It is hope. 

And tomorrow, February 27, I will interview at Harvard. And you know what else I realized recently? February 27 was my grandma's birthday. 

I'll be thinking of her tomorrow, and, whatever the outcome, feeling incredibly grateful that I was able to get even this far.

This opportunity has also made me feel even more dedicated to making sure it isn't so hard for other people like me to reach their highest educational and professional potential.

In other words, tomorrow I'll be thinking of you. 

What Harvard & Community College Students Have in Common

According to a recent article in The Atlantic, The Harvard "first-year experience unfolds under the supervision of an entire team - a freshman adviser, a resident dean of freshmen, a proctor, and a peer-advising fellow. Residential house tutors and faculty advisers lend support later."

The article goes onto compare that with community colleges, saying "community-college students are largely on their own. Student-adviser ratios in the two-year sector are abysmal in many schools: they can run as high as 1,500-to-1."

What stuck out to me when I read this?

Harvard students need just as much support as you do to be successful.

I see this lack of understanding and support affect low-income students all the time - they come up against an obstacle, feel alone, and assume that they must just not be college material. 

But, as I tell students in my speeches, no one does college successfully alone. 

Every student needs a solid support network. Colleges that are smart enough and/or have the funding know this and try to build it into the system.

But not every college understands how important this is, and some just don't have the funding. 

Which is why I do what I do. The system requires change to meet the needs of 21st century students - and while I hope to affect positive change at scale one day, my main goal is you right now.

You can't wait for the system to figure it out. And the good news is YOU have the power to create your own success network; that's why I wrote my book.  

So even if your college isn't surrounding you with advisors and mentors it's your job to surround yourself with them. They are everywhere. It's up to you to make the most of the opportunity to build that network. It can change your life and is necessary for college success.

Here are some places to start looking:

1) Your college's advising office
2) Your professors' office hours
3) Your college' student life office 
4) Your college's career center
5) Your college's tutoring center

Harvard students have a team and you should too. Build one and watch your potential grow. 

How first generation students achieve the American Dream

As our economy shifts and changes rapidly, more and more people than ever before are needing to go to college in order to sustain the kind of lifestyle that once could be created with a high school diploma. Not anymore. 

More and more students who are the first in their family to attend college will be starting a higher education for the first time. Being the first to go down that path is not easy, but those that do sometimes don't realize how important their steps are. If you are the first in your family to attend college, I hope you know what a big deal that is. You should be so proud. 

I recently interviewed Jesus Moran for the piece below on Fox News Latino. His story is one of hope, one that shows the American Dream is still alive, and one that reminds us all that barriers do exist, but that the right support can help others like him bust through those walls and make new paths:

"Jesus Moran's parents struggled when they arrived to the United States from El Salvador.

His father lost his job in construction during a wave of layoffs and now works at a car wash. His mother has been a housekeeper for 14 years for the same family. So when it came to their children, they wanted them to achieve more...." Read More.