Freshman Academy turns two years old: What is next for our pro | Freshman Academy

Freshman Academy turns two years old: What is next for our project?
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On October 1st of 2019, Beka and I held Freshman’s very first SAT program. Our vision was to transform exam preparation by shifting a traditional assumption of “exam as the goal in itself” to “exam as a means to achieving the ultimate goal.”
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For the past two years, two of Freshman's students were admitted to the Yale Young Global Scholars program. Our graduates (many of whom did not even know about the existence of the SAT exam a couple of months before applying to colleges) were accepted to some of the world’s best universities, including one in the Ivy League.
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Our students got the highest test scores with their exam certificates not just gathering dust on the shelves but helping them fulfill tangible results. Importantly, most of our successful alumni did not attend fancy public or private schools but represented a social stratum that did not previously have access to high-quality educational resources.
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In the retrospect, the realization of all these goals seems plausible today only because we achieved them - we should not take them for granted! What determined those accomplishments were countless stressful days and nights when we tried to balance teaching and administrative work with our university studies. We should cherish our commitment to push forward in times when we felt like giving up.
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What we have now is Freshman’s legacy, a successful teaching and university preparation model that we need to expand. We have always denounced standardization, but its careful implementation is our only way to positively impact more aspiring students from the post-Soviet region. To this end, we will dedicate the next few years to preparing a larger cohort of students who will be fully ready to represent our region at the highest of levels.
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All of this is very long-term work, and you will be hearing that we realized our ultimate vision sooner or later. As such, we invite you to join us on this incredible journey.
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Happy birthday, Freshman!
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Best Regards,
Valera