DSC05777-scaled Why 2020 has been painful and powerful for TeenSHARP

We recently held our College Signing Day and TeenSHARP once again delivered on our mission to help Black and Latino students attend America’s most selective colleges.

We have students going to Yale, Howard University, Tulane, Johns Hopkins, Swarthmore, Gettysburg, Carleton College, University of Pennsylvania, and many more top colleges. Powerful stuff!

This doesn’t happen enough so I’m going to take some space here to acknowledge Tatiana Poladko, my wife and co-founder, and the TeenSHARP team.

They never give a behind the scenes look at the sacrifice and the struggle that goes into the work and it can almost seem effortless.

But on a scale of 1 to 10, our 2019-2020 program year has had a difficulty level of 50.

Our program year starts in August and between July and August we learned that 3 critical staff members would be moving on to other opportunities.

It’s something you expect when you have very talented staff on nonprofit salaries but it always presents major challenges nonetheless.

To put it in context, TeenSHARP only had 7 salaried staff members and we were losing 3 right before the new program year!

To make matters worse, we had an extremely tight financial year and didn’t have the resources to replace 2 of those positions.

So most on the team had to do more and had to plug holes to support hundreds of students across the region.

Some balls dropped, some families complained, the pressure was high, and the team had to be resourceful.

It wasn’t pretty but the program year launched in August and things got even more complicated as Tatiana and I had our third child in September!

That meant Tatiana had to deal with everything that comes with birthing and caring for a tiny human while also managing an extreme workload.

So, once again, she wasn’t able to take any maternity leave and our newborn was regularly nursing while she was advising students.

Flash forward to the Spring of 2020 and COVID-19 decided to turn the difficulty level all the way up during a year when we were severely understaffed/resourced.

In just a few days, the TeenSHARP team moved all of our programs virtual as if they had some “in case of a pandemic” plan sitting on the shelf.

The team created an entirely new program— Cyber SPARK— to keep our students learning while schools weren’t teaching new content.

We offered weekly workshops for parents on Wednesdays in English and Thursdays in Spanish to help them navigate education during a pandemic.

We even had our first cyber college tour that featured conversations with two women of color college presidents.

We were figuring things out, the end of the program year was in sight, and then tragedy hit.

Tatiana learned her mother had cancer and we lost her within a month of that devastating news. With Ukraine’s borders closed due to COVID-19, we couldn’t even get to her or attend her funeral.

2020 has been painful. 

But while we grieve and want to complain we try not to ignore the many joyful moments we have been afforded.

We are buoyed by the beautiful and selfless TeenSHARP staff members and volunteers who navigate their own personal challenges to support our mission.

We are encouraged by the families who continue to trust us and commit to TeenSHARP.

We are fueled by the friends of our work who donate their money and time to keep the enterprise in motion.

And our TeenSHARP students make our hearts sing and remind us each day why we need to keep pressing.

We’re building something special and your support is much appreciated: teensharp.org/donate/

Deborah Yanez

Parent Programs Manager

Deborah leads TeenSHARP’s parent empowerment work with love, conviction, and credibility. She grew up in one of America’s poorest cities (Camden, NJ), has served as an elected school board member, raised two sons who have accessed higher education successfully (one is a TeenSHARP alumnus and McCabe Scholar at Swarthmore) along with her husband, and has helped many more families prepare their children for college.

Zoha Fatima

Director of Operations & Special Projects

Zoha is driven by a deep passion for education and social justice. With over 8 years of experience in the development sector, she has made significant contributions to various education projects aimed at increasing access and equity. Zoha’s commitment to empowering learners stems from her belief that education is a fundamental right. She honed her expertise at Harvard University, earning a Master’s in Education and Technology, building upon her undergraduate studies in Public Policy.

Based in the Bay Area, Zoha loves exploring the diverse California landscape, especially through hiking. When she’s not championing educational equity, you can find her baking, hitting the trails, or enjoying the outdoor.

Sara Petty

Director of Pre-College Success

Sara Petty is TeenSHARP’s powerhouse Director of Pre-College Success, orchestrating a nationwide expansion to ensure that talented Black, Latino, and low-income students have a direct path to elite colleges. With a proven track record from her days scaling a college access program in Houston, Sara has a knack for turning educational challenges into triumphs. She thrives on transforming obstacles into opportunities and is known for her relentless drive and innovative solutions. When she’s not making waves in the world of education, you can find her brainstorming the next big idea over a cup of coffee or diving into a new book that sparks her curiosity. Sara’s mission? To make sure every student has the chance to unlock their full potential and claim their spot in the future’s top colleges.

Tamara Fentress

Chief of Staff

For over 18 years, Tamara has been a passionate advocate for educational equity, inclusion, and the overall improvement of support structures to build a solid foundation for the journey of learning. Driven by a desire to see all students and families thrive, she has successfully led major projects of varying budget sizes, while also co-creating and implementing innovative strategies at mission-driven organizations across various operational areas, from technology and project management to legal and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEIB) initiatives.

Her journey began in a large urban school district, where she spent a significant portion of her career leading the development of critical strategies that served over 86,000 students. This experience allowed her to work closely with a diverse team of over 10,000 employees, understanding and addressing needs across all levels of the organization. Her collaborative spirit extended beyond the school district, fostering strong partnerships with parent groups, community organizations, and government entities.

Tamara’s dedication to education stems from a deeply personal place. As a mother to two inspiring children, Harmony and Hudson, she sees firsthand the potential and power of having access to opportunities, caring adults, and belief in that which is greater than yourself.  This unwavering belief in the power of serving others, access, equity, and education to empower and transform lives fuels her commitment to continuous learning and creating equitable opportunities for all.

Tatiana Poladko

Co-Founder

Our “force of nature” founder came to New Jersey from Ukraine for graduate school over a decade ago and immediately put her hands to the work of community empowerment and expanding educational opportunity. She has experience managing youth programs for the UN in Ukraine (at the age of 19!), teaching at Temple University, building/managing nonprofit organizations, and supporting students to and through college. She is also a mother to three lovely kids (Zoryana, Nazariy, and Taras), plays guitar and piano, and makes amazing soups!

Atnre Alleyne

Co-Founder/CEO

As TeenSHARP’s resident historian, Atnre is quick to share stories of the organization’s humble church basement beginnings, its growing pains, and many milestones. With his background in research and evaluation, policy and advocacy, communications, technology, and instruction, he has the type of Swiss Army knife skills that are critical in a fast-paced social impact organization. He has three lovely children (Zoryana, Nazariy, and Taras), an amazing wife (TeenSHARP’s Co-Founder), and he plays bass guitar and blogs when he finds the time.