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In letters of recommendation, an admission officer notices when a teacher with a distinguished career elevates an applicant to the highest level of acclaim over the course of their teaching years. This is what we found in Kyla’s application for admission. “Kyla is among the most capable and intellectually curious students I have ever had the opportunity to teach,” wrote one teacher. She has excelled, “in large part because of her natural intelligence and terrific work ethic.”

Outside of class, Kyla has earned distinction as captain of her school’s Spoken Word Club and Slam [Poetry] Team. She recently received the prestigious Gold Key and Gold Medal awards for poetry from Scholastic Awards in Art & Writing, and she is featured in Kate Clanchy’s Friend: Poems by Young People. She is president of Aspira, a Latinx leadership organization, and was selected to serve as the student liaison to the Culture Climate and Behavior Committee at her school. She is also co-chair of the Student Leadership Advisory, a small group of students selected to provide feedback to school administrators about key matters of importance on policies and procedures.

Currently, Kyla is interested in science but possesses a broad range of interests. Even her science teacher in high school wrote that, “Of all the students I’ve had in my 12 years of teaching, there are only a handful that I can see becoming great scientists. Kyla is one of these — and I don’t even know for sure that she’ll stay in science.” Perhaps her character is what most distinguishes her. According to one teacher, Kyla is “unusually compassionate and thoughtful.” Another added that, “she is as kind a person as I have ever met, has a terrific sense of humor, and is universally well-liked by her classmates and well-respected by faculty.”