"The NOAH Program is a blessing”, said senior Jesse Candelario. The NOAH Program (New Opportunities at Hofstra) took Candelario out of an environment with limitations and placed him into an environment where there were no barriers and the opportunities were endless.
The NOAH Program is described by students as more then financial support, but as a structured family. All NOAH students must undergo a six to seven week summer program in order to become a student at Hofstra University. Many students describe the program as both “academic boot camp”, and a “family”.
The NOAH Program is the HEOP (Higher Education Opportunity Program) of Hofstra University. Unlike other HEOP Programs, the NOAH Program is granted monies from the University. The NOAH Program is the most structured HEOP Program, and it is also the only one that gives its students a sense of family, for many NOAH Students NOAH is the only family they have.
During the NOAH summer program students wake up at 5:30 am to exercise and this is how their day begins. They go to class from 8:00 am to 5:50 with an hour in between for lunch, during lunch students usually catch up with their studies. At 6:00pm the students eat dinner until 7:00pm and then have a seminar until 8:00pm. From 8:00pm to midnight the students study in their dorm rooms at their desk with no distraction. During study hours, there are tutor counselors that go to each dorm room and provide help with assignment. The tutor counselors are NOAH Students, that given up their summer to give the prefreshmen everything that was given to them. This goes on everyday for the six to seven week program. During the summer students are not allowed to leave campus or use the phone without the proper permission. NOAH Students walk quietly in two straight lines, to and from the classes, and live in the same dorm building with each other, their counselors, and the Summer Program Coordinator. During the weekend they have a couple of classes and watch movies that enlighten them about African American and Latino History. It is no wonder why the motto of the NOAH Program is the famous quote by Frederick Douglass, “If there is no struggle there is no progress.”
The NOAH Program dramatically changes the lives of many students. Because of the NOAH Program, students that would normally not attend a private university due to financial and academic reasons, are afforded the opportunity to due so. Candelario attended Bushwick High School and drop out, after dropping out, was introduced to Bushwick Outreach were he received his high school diploma. He never thought of attending college, he didn’t think it was possible, until he was introduced to NOAH. Candelario parents, like most of the parents of NOAH Students did not have the monies to send Candelario to college, and because of his high school track record there was not much hope of scholarship. Now Candelario is a senior, that has traveled 13 countries in Europe and seven cities in Mexico, and is focused on maintaining a high GPA (Grade Point Average), and credits his success to the predecessors, and current administrators of the NOAH Program. Through the NOAH Program students are provided with a large financial aid package, and are given room and board. A Hofstra University NOAH alumnus Tabari Bomani is currently a professor at Manhattanville College and a teacher at Bushwick Outreach Program, and he said, “The NOAH program saved my life and set me on the path of my mission in life.” Now Bomani helps students everyday, he has help changed the lives of many students including Candelario, the same way the people at the NOAH Program help to change his life. Penny King has been a secretary for the NOAH Program for 22 years, and she agrees with Candelario in saying that the NOAH Program is a “blessing.”
"IF THERE IS NO STRUGGLE THERE IS NO PROGRESS."
-- FREDERICK DOUGLASS
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According to Baraka Corley Assistant Dean of the NOAH Program, and also the Summer Program Coordinator about 700 students apply to the NOAH Program each year, and only about 27 to 30 get accepted. It is mandatory for all NOAH Students to complete the NOAH Summer Program. Corley is a graduate of Hofstra University under the auspices of the NOAH Program. Corley’s success as a NOAH Student is exemplified by his current accomplishment. As well as working as a full time administrator for Hofstra University, serving as NOAH Summer Program Coordinator, Corley also is studying at the graduate level at Hofstra University.
Although there are many advantages of the NOAH Program some NOAH Students think there is disadvantage. Tiffiny Dixon is a Hofstra University student under the auspices of the NOAH Program, she said that one disadvantage of the NOAH Program is that the NOAH Program provides so much for their students, “ sometimes students grow too dependent on the program, and don’t do things for themselves.”
King said, that the NOAH Program is a rare opportunity and very few people get the chance to be a part of it, “it is a gift”. She is proud of the all the students that take advantage to the many great things the NOAH Program has to offer, but is disappoint that many students forget why they came to the NOAH Program at Hofstra University.
