Our college and professional skills curriculum seeks to equip students with the tools to achieve their educational and professional goals. We aim to ease the transition to college, and to be sure students are prepared for the professional careers of their choosing.

While students with significant financial resources often have opportunities to develop these skills through tutoring, mentorship, and intensive (and, oftentimes, expensive) programs, Quest seeks to provide these same resources to students from lower-income backgrounds.

This area of the curriculum is tailored each year to address the needs and interests of the group. Standard courses and lectures include:

• Extensive SAT preparation courses (for students seeking to increase their SAT I or SAT II scores)
• College essay writing workshops, tutorials, and mentorship (each student receives individual attention in this area, and leaves the summer program with a draft of his/her college essays)
• College planning and admissions counseling
• Note taking workshops
• Public speaking instruction (we generally spend 6-8 hours/week in public speaking classes)
• Presentation skills workshops
• Business plan development techniques
• Etiquette lessons (for formal and business events)
• Social dance lessons (swing, waltz, etc.)
• Mentorship (each student is matched with three mentors during the summer—a professional mentor who will join the student for dinner once a week, a career shadowing mentor who the student will join in the workplace for a day, and a staff mentor)

The next page describes the final focus of our curriculum—personal development.