For the most part, people know what Buffalo Prep is, but they don’t go deeper into truly knowing what the program does for an individual. I’m always asked, “do you go to double school?” Often that has become a phrase that is attached to what Prep is due to the accelerated workload. Buffalo Prep is a beautiful program that I believe every minority should experience if they are looking to better themselves and their future.

Before I joined the High School Prep program, I was on a 5th-grade reading level which was a setback from a traumatic experience. Once my teachers and I built a connection, they began to work with me closely on how to be my best self at all times. Creating these relationships with them was not hard because my teachers were supportive and always wanted my best interest. Their intentions were clear, and the love was genuine. Even at certain times in the program, I would say, “I wish this teacher would cut me some slack.” Their reason for not doing this is because they want me to produce excellence at all times.

It was hard for me to understand why sometimes my teachers could be so hard on me. Sometimes I thought the teachers hated me because of the way I would talk in class, be on my cell phone, and lastly, the way I would turn in homework late. But I could never be more grateful and thankful for my teachers being patient with me through the adolescent stages of my life. I have never met a group of teachers in my life that have cared and loved a group of students so much to the point where they will stay after hours to help their students. To be a teenager in today’s society isn’t easy. We must deal with cyberbullying, social media influencers, and, most importantly, racial/cultural influences.

I graduated from High School Prep in the year 2019. As Mr. Deveso and Mrs. Patti liked to call us “the class of experience,” we learned a lot. When I was in Prep, there was a specific class called Media Studies. Media Studies taught me all about the injustice inside the world that was going on at the time. For example, I didn’t know what a microaggression was before I joined the program and took that class. This has truly changed my way of thinking on the ideas of religion, poverty, and social class on a multitude of levels.

I take small things that I learn from High School Prep and apply them to everyday life. Something that I have been living by lately is the quote, “there is always a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow that us humans call knowledge.” After I left middle school moving to high school, I felt more than prepared to take on whatever my high academic achieving high school was bringing toward me. Now that I am in my junior year and going through College Prep, I have all the support from the tutors to reach high academic achievement, and opportunities blossom right open for me.

When Buffalo Prep talks about its four core values, (excellence, integrity, responsibility, and leadership), it proves none other than the less. All of my High School Prep friends and classmates show these values from just reflecting on the role models they have set in front of us. When I say there is a pot of gold at the end, that’s speaking of all the opportunities, guidance, love, and support Prep provides to us students. Which if you ask me, RiverJordan Carr, that is all a true scholar needs to succeed in society.

You can hear even more from River below in this video about Buffalo Prep’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.