The Bronx Science Alumni Foundation was successfully awarded a grant by the Summerfield Foundation to support Bronx Science students during the college application process. After careful research and consideration, the Bronx Science Alumni Foundation partnered with Story2 as a way for providing students with additional personalized help with college essay writing.

Through Story2, Bronx Science is able to offer every senior one round of feedback and unlimited use of the site as well as three workshops for students.

“The College Office is trying to expand and improve the services it offers through programs like Story2 and Project Accepted. In this way it can help level the playing field, considering the private and costly college essay help services that are being used by many students,” said Ellen Fisher, Co-Director of the Bronx Science College Office.

Story2 Founder and CEO Carol Barash, Ph.D., who graduated summa cum laude from Yale University, has counseled students in college admissions for over twenty years. Barash started Story2 “to create a future where everyone, from every background, can tell their stories and pursue their boldest dreams.”

As the 2015 winner of the EDDIE Award for Best College Admissions Essay Website, Story2 prides itself on providing insightful feedback to essays and serving as a timesaver for students as they “tap into the power of storytelling.”

While use of the program is not required, senior English teachers who have already planned on spending the first unit of the year on writing the college essay have highly encouraged their students to submit to Story2 by the first deadline, October 5th, 2016. Teachers are able to see which of their students have logged on and which stage of the writing process they are in.

“We believe in avoiding a formulaic approach to writing college essays, and in having several readers give feedback, so we thought the Story2 approach, which allows for the individual’s character and unique qualities to shine through, would be helpful,” said Marci Mann, the Assistant Principal of the English Department.

“The site asks students to focus on details, description and dialogue, and to leave the reader with a ‘glow’,” she continued.

Seniors who would have usually flocked to SGI in order to receive additional help from their English teachers now opted to submit a copy of their latest college essay drafts online through Story2 and waited for corrections, following the 24-48 hour revision process.

“The feedback was really comprehensive because it came in three parts: a letter from the woman who evaluated my essay, a copy of my essay with comments and annotations in the margins, and a rubric with their criteria. Overall, it was helpful feedback because it did point out what needed to be improved, and it gave suggestions on how to fix it. At the same time it’s worth noting that they’re using a rubric which attempts to objectively grade a subjective piece of writing,” said Sharif Hamidi ’17.

Depending on how successful the program is at Bronx Science, Story2 may potentially be offered to juniors as well as seniors during future academic years.