Nancy Kelsey columnist for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. January 14, 2022CLEVELAND, Ohio -- As a high school senior applying for colleges and scholarships in 2000, I walked pretty blindly through the process.
But my parents were not equipped with the knowledge to share with me what to expect from the college application process. Not because they didn’t want to, but because their parents did not possess that knowledge to share with them either.are all cogs in colonial systems designed to disenfranchise us, allowing our hard work and excellence to get us only so far in building wealth and creating opportunities for our future generations. I take pride in working to dismantle that.
If not for affirmative action policies in higher education, I may not have gotten to attend college. I may not have discovered my passion for storytelling and advocating for social justice. I may not have had the opportunities I have been fortunate to enjoy. I may not have gotten to help my family better our financial situation.
I had never considered going that far for school. But I applied and was accepted. My elation was compounded by the fact that they offered generous financial aid to help fund my educational endeavors. Without that, I would have never been able to make college work. Because although I came from a household that valued education, the fact is we were poor, and I grew up in an area where many of my childhood friends didn’t go on to college.
My brother fared well thanks to affirmative action, too. He graduated with honors from St. Ignatius High School, went on to Dartmouth College and later to medical school. I called him before I wrote this column to gather his thoughts. He echoed my sentiments: without affirmative action, he would not be where he is today.