“The best decision of my life”

Hasana P. (C/O 2021) is moments away from hearing back from Questbridge. She’s laid back and composed, explaining that her Questbridge application—submitted right on time, working alongside TeenSHARP staff until the end—was “the most stressful thing” she’s ever done.  

That’s saying a lot. 

The highly-competitive program lets ambitious high schoolers across the country apply Early Decision for elite schools—and match, in a binding transaction, with their highest-ranked choice. The school has to choose the student, and vice versa.

Still, the rigor of the Questbridge application pales in comparison to the challenges that Hasana has overcome to reach this milestone moment:  waiting to hear back from her future college. 

“To get here, it wasn’t just me,” Hasana said. “It was me and TeenSHARP.”

Hasana was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to a Muslim family and moved to Saudi Arabia when she was a toddler. That’s where she attended an all-girls international school, making friends from around the world, like Pakistan, India, Sudan, Egypt, Canada, and Thailand. 

Those friends became family, because Hasana’s school had a unique approach:  girls grouped together in a kindergarten class would also go to first grade together, and second grade, and third—all the way up to graduation. 

“That really brought us so close,” Hasana said. “They were like my sisters.”

This made the move back to America all the more jarring when it happened in Hasana’s freshman year of high school. An ailing family member in New York needed around-the-clock care, so Hasana’s mother stepped up. As Hasana’s father searched for work—an arduous, often fruitless endeavor—Hasana searched for a school in the Empire State. Her luck wasn’t much better.

That’s how she found herself—having just moved across the globe from her lifeline of schoolmates—moving again, away from her parents, to live with her extended family in Delaware. 

Here in Delaware, Hasana found a school that she loved, and which empowered her, with supportive educators and counselors who nurtured her academic success. More recently, during the COVID-19 lockdown, Hasana said her school has responded well to virtual learning as well, with a focus on student mental health. 

But the transition wasn’t always easy or comfortable. For instance, Hasana was the only Muslim girl in school and because she transfered from Saudi Arabia, her guidance counselor automatically enrolled her in ESL courses. And even as she topped her classes, she was discouraged from enrolling in certain honors programs.

That didn’t stop her. Instead, Hasana took the classes and earned a perfect 100 in one of them—her best grade in high school. Lessons like this laid the groundwork for her philosophy when she came to TeenSHARP: 

“I don’t listen when other people say what I can and cannot do,” she said. “I will rise to the occasion. I will match the work—and put in the work—to get where I need to be.” 

That was certainly the case with Questbridge.

Hasana, who listed schools like Yale and Pomona on her Questbridge application, once believed she couldn’t attend schools of that caliber. Even with a portfolio of Advanced Placement courses and Straight As—and even as a strong self-advocate with a worldly perspective—Hasana didn’t know the ins-and-outs of college in America. Neither did she know the full scope of opportunities available to her as a curious, bright, and hardworking young scholar. Opportunities like Questbridge itself.

That all changed in March 2020—right before pandemic lockdowns began. 

“Actually,” Hasana said, “it’s a crazy story how I joined TeenSHARP.”

That morning, a club at Hasana’s high school was hosting a field trip to UD in collaboration with TeenSHARP. Although she planned to go, Hasana overslept—awakened by a friend’s text message—and missed the bus, but didn’t want to wake her aunt and uncle. Thankfully a friend was able to offer a ride.  

“If she didn’t pick me up I would not know anything about TeenSHARP,” Hasana said. By the end of the field trip, Hasana had signed up for the program—what she called “the best decision of my life.”

That was about seven months ago. Since then, so much has changed. For one, Hasana hasn’t seen anyone from TeenSHARP in person because of COVID-19 restrictions. Even in a digital environment, Hasana said that she’s found the kind of family at TeenSHARP that she had back in Saudi Arabia, at her international school. 

“Metal sharpens metal,” she said. “At TeenSHARP, I’ve met students involved with advocacy who inspire me to do more, to do better. There’s not really a competitive vibe here. It’s more that everyone supports each other, works together, and celebrates each other.”

Beyond the social support, Hasana said TeenSHARP changed her entire summer by giving her something to work toward:  a stronger portfolio of extracurricular activities and college classes, like sociology, stock trading, and creative writing—all of which she took through our program. Hasana quickly developed a passion for advocacy, too, and launched a program called Teens Drive  Change. Their latest (visually stunning) Instagram campaign highlights the achievements of remarkable people of color throughout history, like Anna May Wong, Ella Baker, Lorraine Hansberry, and Victor Hugo Green. Hasana was inspired by Teens Take Charge in New York City, after meeting a Muslim girl her age who was a leader in that advocacy organization. 

“This summer, I learned more about college than all my counselors taught me over the years,” Hasana said, noting that she applied to 36 fly-in programs, completed all her supplemental essays, pursued financial aid, and—of course—submitted a meticulous Questbridge application that called for at least a couple of late-night working sessions.

Watch the video below to see Hasana’s Questbridge decision—and her reaction: