Mission: Scholarship

Interview with founders Sherrod Crum, Karen Calderon, Ajani McIntosh

Q & A

Tell us about the issue you want to tackle with your social venture.

Mission: Scholarship is designed to tackle the lack of access to high quality college and scholarship application resources for underserved students within the United States. 

 

We are aware that there are many facets of the college and scholarship application process that are not properly conveyed to high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Additionally, these students are not exposed to the same level of college preparation resources and guidance as their higher-class counterparts. This limits their ability to assemble a strong application, which can prohibit their chances of gaining admission to competitive universities and scholarship programs across the nation.

Why did you feel compelled to take on that issue?

 

We felt compelled to tackle this issue because it is a systemic issue that needs to be addressed. The issue of education inequality and access to postsecondary preparation resources can be characterized as systemic due to the positive correlation between schools that are underperforming and the percentage of minority and low-income students who attend those schools. This systemic issue has a trickling effect and has proven to have led to disadvantaged students not being adequately equipped with in-depth knowledge about the college and scholarship application process. Additionally, high school counselors who work for underfunded schools in inner city and rural areas are not able to focus heavily on college and scholarship application preparation. They work with students who have a variety of issues at home that unfortunately take precedence over application preparation. 

What inspired you to launch your social venture through CUBE at the Campus Y?

The Mission: Scholarship team was inspired to continue to expand this venture through CUBE at the Campus Y for a variety of reasons. Mission: Scholarship is looking to expand nationally and eventually grow into a venture that team members can work on full-time post-graduation. Additionally, we envision expanding Mission: Scholarship across the United States and securing funding to create more college and scholarship preparedness resources and impact more students. We feel that through the guidance and mentoring that we will receive as a member of the CUBE cohort, we will immensely improve as a business entity and obtain our short and long-term goals. 




What do you hope to achieve during your CUBE residency?

During our CUBE residency, we hope to learn from and collaborate with other like-minded individuals within our cohort who want to utilize entrepreneurship to achieve social good. Additionally, we hope to receive guidance on how to effectively expand as a nonprofit organization and secure funding opportunities that will allow us to assist more students across the nation in regards to the college and scholarship application process. 



What social impact do you hope to have with your venture?

Through both our in-person and virtual initiatives implemented to assist students with the college and application process, we hope that students will have more knowledge and confidence when tackling the college admissions cycles in the fall.

What motivates you to be a student entrepreneur?

Everyone always loves to comment on the issues that they see in society. However, what are you doing about it? That’s what motivates us to be student entrepreneurs. We see an issue in our society and we are really passionate about alleviating that issue and creating more opportunities and hope for disadvantaged students.