As we close out October, I’m energized by the momentum that has been building around LEDA’s cultivation events over the past year. These gatherings are more than receptions—they’re spaces where our community experiences the heartbeat of LEDA up close: our Scholars’ ambition, resilience, and leadership.
LEDA’s work has always been national in scope. Now, we’re taking our cultivation events national as well. We’re excited to kick off this broader series with an event in Boston on November 20. These events are a wonderful way to deepen your understanding of LEDA—or to introduce colleagues and friends who should know about our mission. Best of all, they offer a chance to engage directly with our Scholars, whose stories illuminate what access and opportunity can make possible.
At our most recent New York gathering in September, we heard from Maxuel Tavares, a high school senior from Brooklyn and a proud member of LEDA Cohort 21. After his Summer Institute experience this past summer, Yale is among Maxuel’s top choices, and he hopes to pursue studies in sociology, health, and society. His reflections captured the spirit of LEDA: rigorous preparation, community, and a commitment to use education in service of others.
Maxuel, third from left, with members of the LEDA Board and LEDA C20 Scholar, Axel Perez, far right.
“My name is Maxuel Tavarez, I’m 16 years old and I’m a LEDA Cohort 21 Scholar from Brooklyn, New York. I was born in Moca, a city in the Dominican Republic to a single mother struggling to stay afloat.
As a result, my sister was younger than I am now when our financial situation forced her to drop out of school and work. And, even then, their combined income still wasn’t enough to cover living expenses.
When I was 8, we moved to the United States, where she knew there would be more financial and educational opportunities for us. Had I spent another couple years in the Dominican Republic, my sister’s reality of having to drop out to support the family would have been my own. A college education would’ve never been in my future.
Here, in the U.S., the dream that my mother and sister couldn’t afford to have is close to becoming my reality, and part of this has been thanks to LEDA.
Summer Institute was the first time I felt I could belong in spaces of higher education. I was surrounded by other high achieving students from under-resourced backgrounds, who regardless of their intended careers, share the common objective of giving back to their communities.
My LEDA guidance counselor, Ms. Rodriguez, who graduated from Yale, not only helped me feel better prepared for the college application process, but also instilled in me words I’ll never forget. “You are the future of Black and Hispanic men in medicine”, she said. It was the first time I’d ever heard those words from someone outside of my family, and in a sense these words weren’t just Ms. Rodriguez’ words, they were the words of LEDA as an organization that believed in me.
My mother never got past elementary school, and my sister didn’t graduate high school. Neither of them could read a word of English, tell you what a CSS profile is or help me fill out FAFSA, but with LEDA I don’t feel at a disadvantage being first-gen.”
We hope to see you at a LEDA event soon, where you will have the chance to meet and be inspired by local students like Maxuel. We’d love your help expanding this series in the months ahead. If you’re interested in partnering with us to host a LEDA event in your city and grow our network of supporters and champions, please reach out to LEDA’s Senior Director for Advancement, Claire Gallagher, at clairegallagher@ledascholars.org.
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