We recently connected with Christine Sylvain and have shared our conversation below.
Christine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a customer success story with us?
We have so many amazing stories from our students—stories of those who have lost parents, have parents with mental health issues, who started with a 2.6 GPA and graduated with a 3.4 GPA, earning scholarships to top-tier schools. The long-term impact is always that they attend amazing schools debt-free, which helps them earn more money in the long run, keeps their families out of poverty and in stable homes, and ensures that their children and grandchildren also go to college, continuing the positive upswing.
I’d love to share Gabriel’s story of coming to this country. Gabriel’s father was a prosecutor in Venezuela, and at one point, the political situation there turned so quickly that Gabriel had to leave the country for his safety. When he arrived here, Gabriel had to learn English and work after school cleaning offices at night. Despite barely sleeping, he still participated in our program. Gabriel has said that if he had stayed in Venezuela, he would have had to join a bike gang to survive. That was his only option. In our program, Gabriel found a mentor and received support, which enabled him to get into Harvard on a full scholarship. Since entering Harvard, he’s excelled, networked well, and built a supportive community around him. The first summer after his freshman year, Gabriel got an internship and called me from his office to tell me he was making $1,000 a week.
Every one of our students is challenged to impact their community, be brave, and show up in rooms with influential people where they’ve never been before. They give speeches. They receive etiquette training and suits. Gabriel went through all that, which helped him during the first week of his internship. He texted me, saying, “Hey, I’m sitting at lunch in an office in New York City in a suit, and I’m not worried about which fork I’m using—because of Path to College.” Our program is less about the transactional services we provide and more about building a family: a successful network of people who care about each other. It takes dedication and community members to make that happen.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I fell into education. I was working as a film producer in Miami, had a baby, and was working long hours. My mom suggested, “Hey, while your daughter’s young, why don’t you teach for a couple of years? You can get back to your other career later.” I submitted my resume, got a call that day, interviewed, and secured a job teaching in Riviera Beach, an area with multi-generational challenges. I worked at Inlet Grove, a charter school that does exceptional work and provides many opportunities to students in a difficult area. However, no matter how much we offered students, they often faced significant obstacles at home: no electricity, lack of food, the need to work, language barriers, no transportation, or no money for tutoring. These issues hindered them from reaching their full potential.
I witnessed these challenges firsthand, but my backstory also played a role in my perspective. I’m the daughter of a Haitian immigrant who came to this country and provided us with a great life and career until I was 15 when his industry shifted, and he was laid off. This period of unemployment was very difficult for my family. I saw the effects of financial stress in a home—how it changes the culture and conversations at the table, shifting the focus from the kids to immediate stressors like food, housing, and jobs. When these are the stressors, you’re not thinking about college; you’re thinking strategically about what makes the most sense right now. Scarcity doesn’t lead to the best long-term decisions. I saw that in my home.
I always say, “Deciding to go to college is the most optimistic thing you can do. It means you believe in your future.” In homes where finances are scarce and stress is high, optimism is very low. I almost didn’t go to college myself. During that challenging time, I thought, “It would be smart to keep this full-time job.” My boss at the time, while I was managing an office, questioned why I wanted to go to college, saying, “College isn’t for everyone!” It was only because of my brother, who had dropped out of high school, that I went. He came to me and said, “No, Christine, not you! You have to go to college! You have more to give to this world.” And he wasn’t wrong.
I went to college on a full ride because of Florida Bright Futures. I applied to one school—typical of a low-income student—got in, and went for free. It changed my life. I had incredible experiences, studied abroad in Germany, wrote a thesis, and had great mentors, professors, and friends who were also curious about the world and ambitious about their futures. They say we are the sum of those we surround ourselves with, and being with others who were striving in their careers helped me rise.
I almost went to law school but instead went to New York City and got my master’s at NYU, which led me into film production. I eventually fell into teaching, which brought me here, and it all prepared me to be the founder of Path to College. I was able to write my own grants, manage projects, and build a program model focusing on individual support and mentoring. That’s what I’m most proud of: we’re making an impact on our students and the world through the relationships they build with our amazing mentors. There’s no cookie-cutter approach to mentorship; it’s like a wildflower garden—not one the same, but a beautiful medley of what it means to be part of this world, where everyone helps each other move forward. That’s the kind of world I want to live in.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
First and foremost, we deeply believe in our students’ greatest potential. One of the greatest challenges in education, especially in marginalized communities, is the pervasive disease of low expectations. The first thing we do differently is look our kids in the eyes and say, “You are limitless.” This is a challenging thing to say to people who live in communities where success is rare. However, if you believe you aren’t going to succeed or that the world is not set up for your success, it’s likely to be true. But if you adopt a mindset that says, “No matter what circumstances or challenges come my way, I’m going to succeed,” then you will.
What also sets us apart is that while some organizations say, “We’re going to help you with your college application,” for us, that’s just one small part of what we do. We tell our students, “We’re going to develop you into the type of candidate that a university will give a full ride to.” This means you must be willing to push yourself out of your comfort zone, challenge yourself, and strive. We do internship matching, competitions, project-based learning, and more to make our students stand out. We pair them with opportunities that make them stand out and help them with a nuanced, strategic approach to presenting themselves to colleges. That’s what sets us apart in our industry, which is college access.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Because I was a woman, a single parent, and inexperienced in leading an organization, I was told that I couldn’t do it. People literally told me, “You’re going to get swallowed alive by this work. You can’t do this.” These were well-meaning individuals who were trying to look out for me and didn’t want my life to be hard. But the first lesson I learned is that hard is not bad. Hard leads to growth, and you are actually limitless. That’s the foundation of our whole program model—we tell students in unbelievably difficult situations that they are limitless.
I had to go through my own crucible moment, learning that I am also limitless and that I can learn anything necessary to run this organization well. I had to shed a lot of fear and self-doubt, stop listening to people who didn’t honor my evolution, and find those who truly believed in me and helped me move forward. The way we internalize our difficulties and the stories we write about them changes everything. If you write a story that you are a victim, that your life has been really hard and will never not be hard, that’s the truth. I had to rewrite that story for myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pathtocollege.org/
- Instagram: @pathtocollege
- Facebook: facebook.org/pathtocollegeorg
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/pathtocollege
- Youtube: @pathtocollege4591
Image Credits
Judith Rae, Brian Larrabee, Mary Brandenburg