Aline, SEED Student

My mother values education. She believes that obtaining knowledge and having a degree can help you get far in life. She feels that degree holders have access to more resources—so she’s been very supportive of me going to SEED.

I came across SEED LA through a social media advertisement. I immediately told my mom about SEED and how it was a new high school in our community with a college prep boarding environment. I was interested in hearing more because I felt it would be a great opportunity for me. Having the structure of a boarding school would help me to concentrate on my work and to prepare for college.

When I learned that SEED LA had a focus on STEM, I was eager to enroll. The STEM curriculum is important to me because I think it will give me access to more career options in the future. I have always been interested in STEM, but my weak subject was math. However, since coming to SEED, I have become more confident in math and have the support from my teachers to continue to grow. We also have study hall after school where tutors are available to help us with our homework. Outside of school, I am a member of the Student Ambassador Leadership program. In fact, I am running for vice president of the founding class of 2026!

What I like about being a SEED LA student is that it is not only a school, but also a community. You build bonds with your classmates and connections with your teachers. For example, on my floor in my dormitory, we have house meetings in the evenings where we get together and talk about how our day is going. We also have conversations with our student life counselor about how we can express our feelings, and how we can be self-aware.

I’ve only been a SEED student for 3 months, but I really like the environment. It's fun to be here! I want to go to Harvard or Yale and to either become a neurosurgeon or a lawyer. I am on the path to becoming the first in my family to graduate from college and I think SEED will help me pursue my dreams and reach my goals.

Darian Tucker, SEED Graduate

Constantly educating myself is critically important to me. As an African American male, I must take extra steps to ensure I build the network, skills, and knowledge to succeed in today’s society. Knowing this motivates me and led me to my journey at SEED.

My path to SEED started at Baltimore’s Annual School Choice Fair—an annual fair where families and students can learn about the middle and high schools available for enrollment. Attending this fair was valuable to me because I wanted to go to a school with a quality education that would help me with my goal of getting to college. At the fair, SEED was one of the schools that really caught my eye—I was intrigued by the boarding component. And after I toured SEED MD’s large campus, I began to imagine myself staying in one of the dormitories. I knew SEED was the place for me. However, it took my parents a bit more convincing—but when they learned about the academics, Sparks (extracurricular opportunities to explore interests and passions), and study abroad programming, they began to come around.

I enrolled at SEED MD in 2016 when I was eleven years old. I immediately developed close bonds with my peers, teachers, and counselors. I felt like I could go to them with things that I didn’t feel comfortable discussing with anyone else. I considered SEED home.

Most kids growing up in my neighborhood haven’t attended professional football and baseball games—and they especially haven’t traveled to Brazil to learn about other cultures, languages, and experiences. I also developed a love for the performing arts and joined SEED’s Showstoppers theater troupe. We performed the classic story Sleepy Hollow and gained a better understanding of the arts through a program with the Baltimore Center Stage.

My journey at SEED led me to study nursing and theater arts at Albright College in Pennsylvania. I am currently in my freshman year. Transitioning to a predominantly white college in southeastern Pennsylvania has been challenging. But my seven years of living away from home at a boarding school, the support of my SEED college success advisor, and the generous financial aid package offered have helped to make the adjustment a bit easier. I have also joined the African American Society and Domino’s Club and look forward to exploring Albright’s study abroad program once I have gotten accustomed to campus life here. These resources serve as an outlet and a way for me to connect with peers that share some of my interests and experiences.

I don’t have many male role models in my family that graduated from college, so I felt like earning a degree was something that I needed to do. I’ve worked hard to get here—I deserve to be here and I thank SEED for helping to put me in the position to make a difference in my family.