Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students, and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty

by Beth Zasloff, Joshua Steckel

When Joshua Steckel left his job as a private school college counselor on New York City's Upper East Side to work at a public high school in Brooklyn, he discovered that for low-income students the competitive game of college admissions has entirely different rules and much higher stakes. The winner of the Ida and Studs Terkel Prize and now available in paperback, Hold Fast to Dreams ―which Kirkus called “a powerful story of courage and hope that should inspire others to follow trailblazers like Steckel and his students”―traces the pathways of ten of Josh's students from their obstacle-ridden application processes through their life-changing college experiences.

Including the stories of young people who apply to college from homeless shelters, as undocumented immigrants, and while facing turbulent homes, pregnancies, and health crises, Hold Fast to Dreams offers what Booklist calls “a profound examination of…the kinds of reforms needed to make higher education and the upward mobility it promises more accessible.” It provides hope in its portrayal of the extraordinary intelligence, resilience, and everyday heroics of the young people whose futures are too often lamented or ignored and whose voices, insights, and vision our colleges―and our country―desperately need.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction, School, Memoir, College, Social Justice

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I think part of the reason why I excelled is because I wanted to make you proud. I said, man, I'm going to show Mr. Steckel that I can do this, because I was being such a damn knucklehead in high school." Dwight

"I want to help children overcome their fears. I want to give children something I never had. Safety.... I think to myself that if I was able to get through all of those struggles and still survive, I can accomplish going to college and making something of myself."- Kennetta

A heartfelt and inspiring book that opens your eyes to the struggles of those who do not see college as an option, the barriers that they faced, and the passion of those who believe in them and help them to succeed.

I truly enjoyed this book. I related to many parts of their stories, and am humbled by their success. I encourage every one to read it!

[Bryan Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zasloff chronicles her husband's first few years working as a college counselor at a low-income public school in Brooklyn, NY. The students featured in the story are remarkable, and their anecdotes are by far the best part of the book. I just couldn't get past the awkwardness of the author writing about her husband.

A worthwhile read for the socially conscious, but educators who are all too familiar with the barriers that high-performing, low-income students face when applying and attending college might find the author's tone too detached from the work itself.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reads like a novel and you won't want to put it down. Kudos to the authors for making it so readable since it addresses an important topic that is often forgotten.
It isn't enough to help under-resourced kids get into college. They face the kind of challenges that we can hardly imagine. I was impressed by how many of them are really the glue holding their families together, and by the lengths they went to to succeed. But that isn't enough. They should have more help and more support. This book really sends that message out and should be required reading for high school guidance counselors and college admissions folks. These kids deserve to succeed and have more support in their lives. That's the only way to break the cycle.

[Cathy Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye opening and thought provoking book. Steckel shares the difficult task for educators to help children in poverty even think about attending college and then the difficult task it is for students to complete college. Everyone needs hope and sometimes it is that person who steps out of his or her comfort zone to encourage, provide assistance, and to meet the needs right where a person lives. Bravo to Steckel for stepping up to this task.

[Lonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone interested understanding how poverty affects higher education. read this book!

Hold Fast to Dreams, by Beth Zasloff and Joshua Steckel, a NYC public school guidance counselor, focuses on a number of students from low-income families as they apply for college and in the years beyond. Their stories shed light on the many difficult, sometimes mind-numbing, situations (economic, social, family, medical, etc.) that these students face, not only in understanding the college application process and obtaining scholarships for all four years, but also in completing their college degrees, while continuing to deal with difficult family situations, often from afar. I don't think I would have had the fortitude to finish college if I had faced their challenges.

I was glad to learn that there are some colleges that offer mentoring and peer assistance programs to help these students adapt to and finish college, but more colleges need to do this.

It was wonderful to read about the many successes of Joshua's former students. His friendship and dedication to them, not only during the application process but throughout the next crucial years of their lives, as they struggled to keep their heads above water in an unfamiliar environment, is above and beyond the call of duty, and clearly his passion.

All guidance counselors and high school educators should read this important book. Thank you, Beth Zasloff and Joshua Steckel, for living it and writing it.

[Candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I think part of the reason why I excelled is because I wanted to make you proud. I said, man, I'm going to show Mr. Steckel that I can do this, because I was being such a damn knucklehead in high school." Dwight

"I want to help children overcome their fears. I want to give children something I never had. Safety.... I think to myself that if I was able to get through all of those struggles and still survive, I can accomplish going to college and making something of myself."- Kennetta

A heartfelt and inspiring book that opens your eyes to the struggles of those who do not see college as an option, the barriers that they faced, and the passion of those who believe in you and help you to succeed.

I truly enjoyed this book. I related to many parts of their stories, and am humbled by their success. I encourage every one to read it!

[Dina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book a few days ago after my husband bought a copy from Beth and Josh's recent book launch. From the first few pages I could not put it down. I looked forward to every free moment I had to sit down and read. The stories of the students, the environment and issues that these high schools students were faced with, and the work that Josh tirelessly dedicated to his students was heart wrenching and admirable. I shed a few tears as these students made decisions that would affect the rest of their lives. I cheered for them during their triumphs and felt sympathy for them as they faced difficult obstacles.

It was a view into the lives of students whom I probably passed daily on 7th Avenue.

[Myos · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary book. Non fiction. You follow students through their senior year in high school, the college application process, the obstacles they face both before and after admission, and you get to see how college turns out for them, in many cases up to graduation and beyond. You won't want to leave these great young people and you'll close the book having learned a lot of things about urban life.

[Julie P · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciate how the authors follow the students beyond college admissions to see what happens once they get in to college. It was incredibly insightful to see how the magnetic pull of family commitments continued to weigh on these students in a way that more privileged students would never face. Really valuable to think beyond getting in and toward getting an educational experience that sets a student up for success.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can find my review of this book here: http://leaningstack.blogspot.com/2014...

And you can scroll through the rest of the blog here: http://leaningstack.blogspot.com/

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a bit sad this book ended when it did as I'm sure Josh has dozens more stories of students to share. As a higher education professional, this made me want to look more into higher education opportunity programs on my own campus to see how I can better be supporting these students.

[Ms. Schneeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent reading material for anyone who works with first-generation college-bound students. Steckel writes about some very illuminating experiences of low-income students trying to make it to and through college. A must-read for big KIPPsters :)

[Jed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartfelt and important

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

if read as a 'how to' book for social initiatives this book helps to highlight the challenges to creating social mobility and equality of opportunity. Great stuff.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Had me hooked and crying. Lots of information and thought to it. Great book to get students to read

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just read it and weep: with joy, frustration, and misery.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hold Fast To Dreams is a well-told, well-written, sensitive, intelligent report of a school counselor’s evolving understanding of the challenges and barriers confronted by his students and of the perseverance, determination, intelligence, talent, ¬and sometimes serendipitous opportunity that it takes to overcome those challenges. Through selected tales of counselor Josh’s interactions with individual students as they pursued high school graduation and entry into post-secondary education, we watch the evolving understanding and his continuing adaptation to better serve his students. We feel various tensions with the students as they face their individual challenges in school, in family, in college. We watch post-secondary institutions reacting to these “under-the-radar,” often “invisible” students, and follow along as one special partnership between Muhlenberg College and Josh’s high school, evolves. It’s all an engaging read, and informative to those who work in education at either level or those who wish to better understand the challenges of changing outcomes for students from schools and neighborhoods serving mostly students from low-income families and minority ethnicities.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hold Fast to Dreams provides a great look into the challenges underrepresented students (racial/ethnic minorities, low-income backgrounds, undocumented status) face in college access, retention, and success. It's a great start for new professionals to learn about the challenges this specific population faces in higher education. The book doesn't prescribe best practices for counselors working with this population of students, but once you finish the book you understand the immense effort college counselors undertake to increase access to information and resources for these students. Namely, one of the greatest contributors to success for them was having a long-term mentor in their lives telling them that they could succeed.

[Keatyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for a class I’m taking in grad school right now and it was very interesting and informative about what applying for and attending college is like for impoverished inner city students, most of whom are people of color, and undocumented students who attend underfunded public schools. The stories that are shared in this book are engaging to read and very informative on the experience of the students and the opportunity gaps that they face. I appreciated that the college counselor who worked with the students continued to engage with their students after high school and was able to share their experience not just with applying to college but what college life was like for them and the challenges they faced after high school.

[Debbie Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written account of what multiple students from disadvantaged families went through as they navigated through the last years of high school and entered college. I would have rated the book higher, but even though it is well written in most aspects, it got repetitive about 3/4 of the way in, and it became less engaging. I do believe it's worth reading!

[Kavie · Rating 3 out of 5]

skyped with Steckel in my class, haha

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories of the students are the best part, the hero-worship of the college counselor is the worst.

[Rachel Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shares perspectives of 10 different first gen students and their challenges to college access and success that are not obvious to the general public in education

[Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally I don't like purely anecdotal books like this, and I do wish that the authors had tied Josh's students' experiences into larger data-supported contexts. However, the students they chose to focus on were engaging and illustrative of a variety of issues within admissions work. I was engaged throughout, and learned things to take with me to my own professional work. Very recommended.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

School Counselor fan fare!

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise isn't completely original--man, disillusioned with his contribution to the propagation of privilege, takes on a more challenging but more rewarding job helping the less fortunate, writes book about it. But of course, some liberal back-patting (and not a ton of it) is a small price to pay for putting his talents to better use.

Anyway, the particulars of this case are, the author quits his job as a college counselor at a fancy New York private school to become a counselor at a low-income high school in Brooklyn (pre-major gentrification). The memoir itself is thought-provoking, on several levels:
--whether fancy, residential liberal arts colleges or universities are indeed the best option for these students, versus working their way through a commuter school. The opportunity and connections are invaluable, but these schools are rather ill-equipped to deal with low-income students' issues, and support them, and the paucity of such students can be isolating.
--whether the author, with his experience in the upper-class rat race, is himself too drawn to prestigious residential colleges as the best option for his students. To his credit, he acknowledges this question.
--related, that even if the students get complete financial support, instability in their families can undermine their prospects, drawing their attention and time away from school

Ultimately, I left with renewed disgust at how poorly our most prestigious universities are serving the underprivileged, and with respect for a few schools that really do seem to be making an effort (among them my brother-in-law's alma mater, Hobart & William Smith colleges, Muhlenberg, Dickinson). We must all do better.

[Steve Peifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hold Fast to Dreams is an extraordinary book about the many challenges a college counselor faces as they attempt to help their students with their college choices. He does a brilliant job of showing how to be effective, you really need to learn about the differences in cultures before you can really be helpful. It's an honest book, where the fear of making an error and sending a student to a school that isn't a fit for the student and they fail.

The author is working with under representative students, and if you had the idea that the solution is admission to a good school, he does a fine job of illustrating all the special challenges they face, including financial, family pressures and no peers or history to guide them. My favorite quote from the book:

If colleges are to do more than replicate the status quo, they need the voices of many more individuals whose experience and insight can transform a society where gross racial and economic inequality undoes the dreams of so many young people.

Josh does what I do for a living. He is just much better at it.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been to college, as have most of the people that I know. But the college process described in this book is like none I ever knew. It's not just the hard-luck stories of mostly low income inner city kids, though this book is excellent at describing just how challenging these lives can be. And it's not just how difficult lives can lead to low GPAs, low SAT scores, etc., making college entrance more difficult. It's the whole College Machine - the grants, the college counselor who knows who admits whom, the visits, the support the universities can offer, the testing prep, and the variety of specialty high schools that exist. It's hard to imagine college acting as the great equalizer most people hope it to be.

[Jessica Leight · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is much that is valuable in this book, particularly the fine-grained portrayal of how truly challenging it is for talented low-income students not simply to reach elite colleges, but to remain enrolled there. However, I found the author's clunky style off-putting, especially the awkward use of the third person to describe Josh. This is perhaps a nod to the fact that his wife is a co-author, but the convention seemed awkward and reminiscent of Bob Dole. Beyond that, the author doesn't wrestle particularly seriously with the policy questions around access to higher education that he raises, but the personal narratives are certainly very compelling.

[Booktart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling and enlightening read about the challenges - financial, personal, etc- first generation and low income college students face in applying to colleges and staying in those colleges. Josh's students' stories provide insight into what some colleges are doing right to help these students succeed in college and into what some are doing wrong/ how they could improve. Very worthwhile read.