Prep for Prep

One of the new cast members on SNL was one of my students.

Who? Saida, I used to teach a class for kids in New York City called Prep for Prep.

Yeah, she's

from New York.

Called Prep for Prep.

And I was doing a different podcast yesterday.

Prep for

Prep?

You know, finan- finances are never meant to be a barrier, but it's supposed to be a space, a learning space where you can, you know, learn the sport, but really teach, um, goal setting, how to work hard, what it is to, you know, strive for something, discipline, focus, self-control, all the strategic thinking, executive fun- functioning.

And then also provide and layer in academic support, access, connections, network, and, and connect them to admissions teams, test prep programs, um, something like A Better Chance or, or Prep for Prep or things like that, so that they have all these tools at their disposals to really get the best academic youth development experience for their child.

Okay.

So it makes sense.

As a little girl, Tyisha stood out.

She was chosen for Prep for Prep, a program that places bright, driven students from families without much money into some of New York City's best schools.

That path took her to Brearley, an elite all-girls private school in Manhattan.

By every account, she was a standout.

And it chronicled a lot of her life, a lot of her, you know, a lot of that information about Taisha.

prep for prep and just a lot of her like really background information and um this was before um he took the second polygraph test I mean took the polygraph test um and so it was it was a lot focused on her and I was grateful for that because had it not been for that one article it wouldn't have been it was you know I wouldn't have known very much about her at all um and so Um, that's why it was important for me not only to tell you that part of who she is, but also bring you this story because, um, it's important to talk about unsolved cases, even when we don't have a lot of information.

You know what I mean? They often tend to be, you know, the shorter episodes because they lack a lot of information.

But, you know, we know how, we know, we've seen it happen as people who watch true crime and listen to true crime we know how um you know bringing cases back into the light and talking about them and sharing them um can can change things and taisha's case deserves to be resolved and the person who did this deserves to be held accountable yeah man um anything else i don't have anything else i think we pretty much touched on all the big things i wanted

Then she went to Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

You know, she had a circle of friends that weren't into those things.

The people that she, you know, her closest friends had come up through the Prep for Prep program.

Program with her and then she knew them, you know, her high school friends and college friends.

Henry saw his own strong personality in his daughter, but he credited Imelda for her honesty and the way she treated people.

As Taisha grew older, her parents learned about an opportunity that could open up new doors for her, a program called Prep for Prep.

The program helped academically gifted students of color prepare for admission to private schools.

Before entering those schools, students completed fourteen months of intensive coursework, attending classes during two summers as well as on Saturdays and after school.

But being so visible brought pressure, too.

Her friend Anna, who spoke to New York Magazine, remembered Taisha being conscious of the attention on her.

As a student who had come from prep for prep, she felt that her achievements and her mistakes carried a particular weight.

Despite earning good grades and doing so much outside the classroom, Taisha often believed that she should be doing better.