Reaching Out
NJ SEEDS Helps
Students Blossom
S
WRITTEN BY DEBORAH SCHAPIRO
oleio Cuervo, 35, is a Silicon
Valley superstar. As an early
Facebook employee, he
helped create the now-famous
thumbs-up “Like” button that
has become ubiquitous on
other websites. Cuervo was later head of
design at Dropbox and is today an
investor and advisor to early-stage tech
companies in the Bay Area. Originally
from blue-collar Piscataway, Cuervo says:
“I can trace back all of my professional
and educational opportunities to my
enrollment in the NJ SEEDS scholars
program.”
NJ SEEDS is an extra-curricular
program that academically and socially
prepares high-achieving, low-income
students for admission to selective
private secondary schools and colleges
across the country. Established in 1992,
the Newark-based program counts
among its board members and volun-
teers a number of Millburn-Short Hills
residents.
The SEEDS program is actually three
separate programs: Young Scholars,
Scholars, and College Scholars. The
Scholars program, serving eighth graders,
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MAY 2017 MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE
is the oldest and admission is extremely
competitive. “We get 500 or 600 applica-
tions each year for this program, which
we whittle down to 180-200 based on
grades, recommendations and test scores,”
says John Castano, executive director.
“These 180-200 applicants are inter-
viewed by our staff and take a test similar
to the SSAT (Secondary School
Admission Test). We invite around
120 of them for our Summer Challenge,
which is three weeks at the Hill School in
Pennsylvania. We try to mimic a boarding
school experience there, with intensive
academic courses, electives and study
halls. At the end of the summer we
narrow it down to 96 students.”
Those 96 students are then invited to
spend six hours every Saturday during
their eighth-grade year at either the
Pingry, Seton Hall Prep or Dwight-
Englewood School, doing intensive
academic work aimed at gaining them
admission to selective high schools.
They also return for a second summer
session at the Hill School, where they
are allowed to choose an academic
track, such as business, humanities
or STEM.
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THUMBS UP Soleio Cuervo, Facebook
“Like” button creator and former head of
design at Dropbox, was a NJ SEEDS scholar.
PRICE
Nonprofit nurtures underprivileged students and
coaches them through high school, college and beyond