Like many other high school seniors, excitement is in the air for Charlotte student, Estrella Flores Hernandez, as a new chapter in life approaches after graduation. New England awaits as Flores Hernandez prepares to enroll at Tufts University in Massachusetts in the fall.
Despite doubts about her college readiness in her early childhood, Flores Hernandez believes that her mother’s steadfast belief is what helped instill the mindset that she could do anything she put her mind to — including attend college.
Now, with the added support from Charlotte based nonprofit, CLTRising, Flores Hernandez is matriculating with a full-ride scholarship thanks to the QuestBridge National College Match program.
“It was through CLTRising that I had a reinforcement of that mindset. They just inspired me a lot,” she said.
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Increasing college access
CLTRising’s programming is designed to support high school students with goal setting and college planning. The organization centers on providing tailored support to a small cohort of juniors and seniors, ultimately assisting them with navigating the college admissions process.
According to their website, CLTRising’s mission is to “support high-achieving, under-resourced high school students in navigating the transition to college.”
When expounding on the intentionality behind their target student demographic, Jennifer Hamilton, CLTRising’s director of their expansion initiative NCRising, explained the organization’s effort to boost support for students who may “fly under the radar” for some college opportunities in absence of the hypervisibility that a valedictorian may receive.
“We know that with the right investment, it could be a QuestBridge type school or it could be a school that provides them complete financial aid,” Hamilton said.
Eligible participants must have a 3.75 unweighted grade point average (GPA) in addition to being eligible to receive Federal Pell Grant and CommonApp fee waivers and/or low income classification in accordance with USDA income eligibility guidelines.
The following is a list of services and activities provided to participants in the program:
- Academic support such as SAT prep and English and Math tutoring
- College advising and mentorship consisting of college and scholarship application support along with financial planning
- Cohort based workshops and celebrations for students and families
- Financial supports such as transportation reimbursements, SAT fees, and graphing calculators
After recruitment is complete during a student’s sophomore year, they spend the following two years receiving the individualized support mentioned above. For instance, CLTRising English/Language Arts tutor Dahlia Watson explained that she works with each student 1-on-1 for SAT preparation.
Her work includes helping students acquire different strategies and techniques for approaching various types of questions, assisting students with time management and pacing, and targeting each students respective challenges. Watson shared that, on average, students have four practice opportunities using full-length exams prior to taking the actual exam. Overall, her goal is to be flexible with meeting the needs of each student and monitoring progress over a longer span of time in order to make them feel more comfortable. Ideally, students have access to support without being overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, CLTRising college mentor, Nathalia Theogene, begins the college application process with students beginning junior year. Theogene first focuses on self-assessments and workshops for students to identify their skills, values, and interests, which is used to develop college lists for prospective schools. By the end of the summer ahead of their seniors year, students complete their personal statements, and transition into meeting college application deadlines.
When preparing students for the transition to college, Theogene said time outside of standard school hours are needed for preparation and sometimes come at a cost to families.
“That is the resource that we give for free to help students get to the same level that their counterparts had basically a head start on,” she said, emphasizing the effort to close the gap that finances play in students receiving access to support and opportunities.
A story of impact
CLTRising’s executive director of academic services and college planning, Maryanne Hogan, joined the organization as an SAT tutor nearly a decade ago. What began with the organization’s founders, Elizabeth and Matt Magan, sponsoring the tutoring support for three students at Harding University High School in Charlotte, ultimately developed into a nonprofit in 2020.
As a first-generation U.S. citizen and first-generation college student, Vicente Olmos Velazco said that despite being at the top of his class at Harding, he lacked guidance on preparing for the SAT and for accessing other opportunities.
“When CLTRising came along, they really gave me that sense of direction and motivated me to apply to schools that weren’t really on my mind,” he shared.
As one of the original students supported by Hogan and the Magans through CLTRising, Olmos Velazco was able to secure a full-ride scholarship through QuestBridge to Dartmouth College in 2019 where he majored in economics and computer science.
Today, Olmos Velazco is a RFP analyst for an asset management firm. Having achieved career success, he celebrates that he has been able to move his parents into a new home since returning home to Charlotte.
“It means a lot to be able to do that, and I don’t think I would have been able to do that without CLTRising,” he shared.
Expansion in the surrounding region
Through her work, Hamilton says that she’s observed the importance and fear associated with not making the “wrong” decision for college — a luxury that she says first generation and under-represented students don’t have.
“CLTRising is really helping students think through options that they might not have really thought of before, but also preparing them for those options,” Hamilton said.
Currently, the organization is in the process of expanding their efforts to areas beyond Charlotte through their NCRising program in the following counties: Catawba, Cabarrus, Davidson, Stanley, Gastonia, and Rowan. They are recruiting a cohort of 25 rising juniors to start this fall, along with offering a fast-track program for five rising seniors in June 2026.
Through this pilot program, Hamilton communicated the organization’s intentions are to bring these same resources and opportunities to the surrounding rural communities.
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