Ellie Park, Multimedia Managing Editor

Yale plans to welcome high school students from underrepresented backgrounds to campus through three on-campus programs this upcoming summer. 

Summer programming for Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America, College Horizons and possibly QuestBridge hopes to prepare underrepresented students for post-secondary education and provide them with leadership opportunities. According to Moira Poe, senior associate director of the office of undergraduate admissions, students will live in University housing, work in University classrooms and create community in shared spaces around campus.

Poe wrote to the News that “Dean Lewis’ and Dean Quinlan’s messages last year outlined [the Admissions Office’s] expanded commitment to outreach efforts and continued pipeline development.” One of the main priorities in the community messages, sent after the fall of affirmative action, was to bring a “high-impact” college preparatory summer program for high-achieving students from underrepresented backgrounds to campus, according to Poe. 

“These programs are very much in line with the Yale College mission of ‘seek[ing] exceptionally promising students of all backgrounds from across the nation’ and we know one of the best ways to introduce students to the possibility of Yale is to bring them to campus,” Poe said.

LEDA’s Aspects of Leadership Institute is an intensive five-week program and completely free of charge for LEDA Scholars. It includes leadership training, academic writing instruction, standardized test preparation, college guidance and community building. 

Each year, LEDA identifies a cohort of rising leaders from backgrounds historically underrepresented on highly selective college campuses and supports them through leadership development and college readiness workshops. 

Poe told the News that “LEDA graduates have a very strong track record of not only being admitted to Yale and many of its peer institutions, but also when admitted, coming to campuses and being visible leaders — in classrooms, labs and communities.” 

LEDA first came to campus for a one-week pilot last year. The program spent its first four weeks on Princeton’s campus and last week on Yale’s campus. 

“A few of us were able to meet LEDA’s scholars during their stay this summer and I think we would all say – it was a highlight of the summer! Their energy was palpable and it was amazing to hear about their time here,” Poe wrote to the News. “More than a few students realized that they could see themselves at Yale or a school like Yale.” 

According to David Garza, LEDA’s executive director, after spending a week at Yale during the summer 2024 LEDA experience, around 60 percent of the cohort plans to apply to Yale this fall.

Another program Yale will bring to campus is College Horizons, which is returning to Yale for the first time in over a decade. 

Poe said that their summer workshop brings an “incredibly talented” cohort of Indigenous high school students to a college campus. For a week, students work with college admissions and high school counselors to learn more about the college application process. 

“While we are excited that one of their cohorts will get to experience life on Yale’s campus for a week, we’re even more excited that they will also learn about their many college options as over 20 colleges and universities will be represented in the program,” Poe said.

According to Christine Suina, program coordinator for College Horizons, the program will bring over 100 American Indian, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian students from across the country to Yale.

Suina told the News that the students will have the opportunity to live in the residential college, eat in the dining halls, walk the campus, sit in the classrooms and imagine attending a school like Yale. 

“College Horizons is about nation-building. Our vision is for Native American students to attend college as their full selves, bringing their culture, language, ancestors, and Indigenous ways of knowing with them because these are gifts, blessings, and educational assets,” Suina wrote.

Yale also hopes to welcome QuestBridge scholars to campus this summer for programming but is still confirming the program. 

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is located at 38 Hillhouse Ave.