Kaylan Casimir lives in Brockton, Massachusetts, with her mom and dad, two sisters, one brother, one dog, and 30 chickens. Kaylan’s dad, Kevin, would love to live on a farm and raise even more animals, but her mom, Karlene, is not on board. Kaylan isn’t either, but someday she’d like to have a pet horse she can ride. She’d also like to have a big family and earn enough money to retire early.
Her current dream career is to work as an OB-GYN. “I like kids, and I think babies are really cute,” she says. “I want to try babysitting, but it’s kind of hard because I’m only 13.”
Kaylan is a new 9th grader at Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton, supported in part by the Corey’s Scholars Program. The scholarship came as a total surprise. “I didn’t have a clue,” Kaylan recalls. “One day, my principal just called me in and told me about it.” Around the same time, Karlene got a call from Kaylen’s school—Trinity Catholic Academy in Brockton. “I was speechless,” Karlene says.
Keven was a little less speechless. “It was beyond!” he exclaims. “It was awesome, it was great, and I feel like Kaylan really deserves it because of the person she is, the kind of heart she has.”
The Parents’ Reaction
“I was speechless.”
– Karlene, Kaylan’s mom
“It was beyond! It was awesome, it was great, and I feel like Kaylan really deserves it because of the person she is, the kind of heart she has.”
– Kevin, Kaylan’s dad
Kaylan describes herself in uncomplicated terms, like the 13-year-old she is. “I’m energetic, playful, and nice,” she says. And always on the move, Kevin adds. As a little kid, she did a lot of gymnastics. She picked up basketball in elementary school, and made both the basketball and volleyball teams in middle school. Basketball is her favorite. She loves the team dynamic of playing with all her friends. “It’s just fun,” she says. “I play a little bit of every position. Just put me in and I’ll play.”
When Kaylan started getting involved with more activities in middle school, her dad wondered if she could do all of it. He says, “I was thinking, ‘Why is she trying to play every sport? When is she going to have time to focus on school?’” But Kaylan persisted. “She kept up with everything,” Kevin says.
Academics haven’t come easy, Kaylan admits, especially math and Spanish. Her strategy is simple: “I work harder on them,” she says. “I try really hard to stay focused.” Sports offered an incentive; she had to maintain her grades to stay on her two teams. She did that successfully enough to be inducted into the National Junior Honor Society in 8th grade. “I might even be starting to like math now,” she says.
A Heart for Service
Helping with recycling projects at Trinity Catholic
Staying late to assist teachers with classroom tasks
Hiding eggs for younger students before celebration
“It’s just nice to be doing stuff for other people. It makes me feel happy.”
The impulse to care for and actively support the people around her is something she sees in the Corey C. Griffin Foundation, too. In a personal statement she wrote after she received the scholarship, she observed that the adults connected with the foundation “also care about hard work, giving back, and making a difference in the lives of others.” She wrote, “I hope to be able to assist others just like I am being assisted.”
“I hope to be able to assist others just like I am being assisted”
Besides the access to financial support for high school and college provided by the Cory’s Scholars Program, Kaylan is excited to have a mentor to check in with along the way. She describes this as an “advantage that I may not have had otherwise”—one that will “truly change my educational journey.” She likes the idea of having a mentor who “will cheer me on and remind me that I am capable of succeeding, even when things get tough.”
For Kaylan, “tough” currently means the heavier academic workload of high school. The rest is simply exciting—new peers and teachers, trying out for the basketball and volleyball teams, maybe track, too. She wants to study French (so long, Spanish!) and learn guitar. “So if I’m ever bored at home, I can practice playing music,” she says.
She prepped for high school over the summer by reading an assigned book: The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story, a collection of 37 stories written over half a century. “It’s a lot,” Kaylan says. “The pages go up to 400. But it’s not bad. It’s actually pretty interesting.”
High School Goals
Only when pressed does she say she’s proud that she was selected to receive the Corey’s Scholars award.
“She’s very humble.”
– Karlene, Kaylan’s mom
She’s a leader. She always takes initiative about things. She gets things done.
– Kevin, Kaylan’s dad
students receive tuition
assistance annually. Now, Corey’s Scholars will deepen our support.
Corey’s Scholars takes a holistic approach. We don’t just help students get into school. We help them succeed in school, graduate, and transition into meaningful careers. By offering students a network of support and resources, Corey’s Scholars empowers them to overcome barriers, stay focused, and achieve their educational and career goals.
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