No student is perfect. It is only sheer hard work and will power that can help one reach great heights. The Torch Scholars Program of Northeastern University has some inspiring stories to tell. Taking the saying “failure is the stepping stone to success” to a literal level, the program is aimed at supporting bright students from diverse family backgrounds and the first in their family to graduate from an institute. Giving full scholarship to its students, the Torch Scholars Program has succeeded in supporting 141 students since its conception. The program opens new opportunities for the students like visiting different countries as a part of their studies.
Adorno and Diabate are two students who have benefited from the program and remain grateful to it. Failing his biology exam in the first semester, thus crushing his dreams of becoming a doctor, it took a lot of support and boosting from the Torch community for Adorno to realise his dreams, even make it to the dean’s list, and go ahead to pursue a doctoral degree. Coming from a financially poor locality like Bronx, it was the Torch program that helped Djibril Diabate fight against all odds and graduate in business and economics, making his childhood dream of personal and professional success a reality.
“We’re here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches to lead people through the dark” says Mantella, the co-founder of Torch Scholars Program. Passing the ‘torch’ of knowledge to new batches year after year, the scholarship program is helping students, who may not otherwise have been able to, reach the heights they aspired of.
N Malavika Mohan