Edgar’s Journey

This year, Edgar’s dreams of graduating college came true, but things could have turned out very differently. Edgar’s journey serves as a powerful reminder of the transformative impact your support can have on the lives of former foster youth and first-generation college students.

Growing up in Los Angeles, both of Edgar’s parents lacked a high-school education, so he had to rely on his older brother to make sure that he did well in school, and had a plan for the future. To Edgar, education represented the key to a better future, not just for himself but for his entire family.

Edgar worked hard and poured everything he had into his studies, striving to secure a spot at UC Berkeley. The day he received his acceptance letter in 2019, tears of joy streamed down his face, knowing that his dreams were finally within reach. However, as fate would have it, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, abruptly closing campuses and forcing Edgar back to the cramped studio apartment he shared with his family.

The pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge for students like Edgar, who had sacrificed so much for their shot at success. Suddenly, their sacrifices felt in vain, their dreams hanging in the balance.

However, this is not where Edgar’s story ends. Despite the upheaval, Edgar refused to give up. He completed an entire year of college in the confines of his shared apartment. And when he returned to campus, his determination led him to a prestigious internship at a prominent tech company. The internship went exceptionally well, earning Edgar a return offer for the following summer and instilling in him the certainty that a bright future awaited him after graduation. But that’s not what happened next.

We’d love to tell you that Edgar’s hard work paid off and that he got a great job in tech after graduation but life had a different plan for Edgar. The unforeseen tech industry layoffs of 2022 shattered his dreams of a seamless transition into a fulfilling career. As his well-laid plans crumbled before his eyes, Edgar turned to Ready to Succeed for help.

As all of his well laid plans crumbled before his eyes, Edgar was able to access critical career and internship advising. Because of your support, he knew that he could reach out and get help instead of giving up.

“I was really down on myself, and RTS helped me see that I still had valuable experience and that being rejected didn’t make me less valuable as a person,” Edgar recalls.

Your support provided Edgar with the lifeline he needed during this difficult time. His RTS advisors helped to rebuild his confidence, connected him with valuable professional networks, and he charted a new course. “I wouldn’t have a direction without RTS—they showed me that it might feel like the end of the world, but it’s not.”

After that, he successfully graduated from UC Berkeley in May and was offered and accepted a full time job as a data analyst that will start later this summer.