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Find your college hook
PAM PROCTOR: One of the experiences
that really summarizes for me the power of the hook and the power of the application
process to transform a student was an experience I had with really one of my very first students.
He was trying to overcome a deficit academically, in the freshman and sophomore year, and by
junior year he was starting to come on strong. But he really lacked confidence. He didn't
really think he was going to get into a college, any college that he cared about. He was, you
know, just insecure about his future. And when I looked at his array of activities,
one of the things that he also felt that nothing stood out on his application.
And when I looked at his array of activities, one of the things I noticed what that he had
spent a lot of time taking photographs and he had also worked for a famous photographer
during his summer. So he had had experience and he had gone to a summer program of photography.
So I suggested to him that he put together a portfolio of photographs to submit with
his college application. And so he went ahead and did it. And he came from a small, private
school, 24 students in his senior class, and he took individual black and white
portraits of each member of his senior class. And as it turned out, as he was developing
these portraits in his dark room, and as he saw the portraits come out of the chemicals,
all of a sudden he realized that he was good. And his parents saw his photograph and they
realized that he was good. His headmaster was so excited that he commissioned him to
take portraits of the entire faculty in addition to his own family. And when he submitted his
applications to colleges, he included this portfolio with his applications. But something
else happened to him along the way. As he was getting all of these accolades from his
parents, from his headmaster, from his teachers about his photos, he started to do better
academically. And by the end of his first semester of senior year, he was on the honor
roll for the first time in his high school career. And before the applications admissions
offers started to come in in April, he started hearing from schools. And he received an offer
of a $5000 a year scholarship from one school in the North East that was totally taken with
his photographs. And by the time April rolled around, it turned out he was admitted to a
couple of his top choices, including one of the very top where he decided to go. And he
hit the ground running, freshman year. Next four years he got straight As. His senior
year in college, his photography project raised the bar for photography for generations to
come, according to the photography department. And he is now one of the hottest young artists
in this country, even though he's only in his twenties. And that's the power of
the hook. It's the power for a student to gain the confidence he needs to take himself
to the next level. So I look at the hook and the whole college application experience not
as something that is daunting, but as an exciting process that can be a confidence-building
experience that can be with a student for the rest of his life.\