Today we’d like to introduce you to Amir Duke.
Amir, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
From the start of high school, I knew that helping people and giving back was my passion; I did it to see the outcome of giving back. During my freshman year of high school, I joined a mentoring program called the Blue Heart Foundation. This organization focused on under-served youth ages 13-18 in the greater San Diego County community. The Blue Heart Foundation is also a non-profit organization that mainly dedicates its time to give back to the community, S.A.T. & A.C.T. prep work, and show persuasive examples of peer to peer mentorship. As I matriculated through high school, I stuck with the program dedicating every weekend to community service. With the plan came many great benefits such as guaranteed four-year admissions to universities and colleges. By the end of my high school career, I’ve gained over 1,000 hours of service and was awarded senior academic stand out. As I went through the program, I achieved many accolades in my young academic career. Before choosing Morehouse College, I received three full scholarships from Central State University, Talladega College, and Virginia State University. Being accepted to 61 colleges and universities around the nation is just one major accomplishment.
I received the AAACE Scholarship, A.C.E. Scholarship, Blue Heart Foundation Scholarship, and HBCU Homecoming Tour Scholarship. Over the four years of high school, I have been acknowledged by receiving the Barack Obama Community Service Award, United States House Of Representatives Award, 78th California District Community Service Award, 79th California District Community Service Award, and Legacy Community Service Award. As my high school years ended, I knew that my success would follow at Morehouse College; as I completed my freshman year as an Economics Major, I was nominated to be a Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Scholar, joined many clubs such as the Pre-Alumni Association, and The Morehouse National Action Network. As the academic year concluded, I was able to start a business that helps young scholars in high school get prepared for college. This business is a non-profit called College Qualified. College Qualified assists students with a highly customized service specifically tailored to each student’s needs. We offer a broad range of comprehensive college planning services, including admissions guidance, career exploration, comprehensive financial aid literacy, individualized mentoring, scholarship development, and university selection. Now that I’ve been able to get the hang of college and my non-profit, I plan to start many more opportunities for future leaders.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
During this whole process, it hasn’t been a smooth road. There have been many times where I felt the need to give up on my goals and dreams, but something in me kept telling me to keep going. Making a shift from high school into college was not easy, I found myself lost for the first few weeks, but as the months went by, it became manageable. Starting a business is not an easy thing to do because some days, you don’t know how successful it’ll be until the plan is laid out and executed. Trying to find potential tutors for SAT & ACT prep work was the biggest obstacle because I wanted to find someone who was a master or had a degree in each subject.
Please tell us about College Qualified.
College Qualified offers students the opportunity to participate in college fairs, educational boot camps, and university tours. Also, all College Qualified students have unfettered access to their individualized academic portfolios, providing “real-time” programmatic support to foster their maximum educational potential. Our mission is to ensure comprehensive student development. This is done through a humanistic emphasis on assisting our students in achieving academic excellence, as well as focusing on health, mentoring, and overall wellness. Our vision is focusing on the total individual today; we envision a productive society tomorrow. We believe that a healthy lifestyle enhances a productive life. We believe that everyone has the potential to be successful with proper guidance and mentoring. We believe that education fosters a productive culture. We believe that all individuals can go to college, graduate, and obtain professional degrees. What separates me from others is that I’m tackling the cause of head-on while acquiring to complete undergrad and achieve my bachelor’s degree. I’m most known for giving back and lifting others so that we all can be making the impossible, the thing I’m most proud of my company is the growth it has had over the past months; I’m continuing to put the word out about my purpose and what I do.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was energetic, courageous, and dedicated to learning new things. I was always into technology and how it would improve over time. As I got older, I gained interest in the business aspect of life and how the world’s economic power brought a blanket over expensive.
Pricing:
- Summer Program 2020 $150
Contact Info:
- Website: https://collegequalified.org/
Image Credit:
Tracy Morris
Suggest a story: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
