Yayudin Seid, 17, sits in the fourth-floor conference room of Washington, D.C.'s Latin American Youth Center (LAYC). The Ethiopian high school senior is on a path toward college and a career in biochemistry, but it wasn't always that way. A few short years ago, the thought of pursuing higher education was an incomprehensible abstract and he was more interested in what he now calls outside "distractions."
"I didn't know what college would do to my life," Seid said. "I didn't even know what 'GPA' meant!"
He immigrated to the United States from Ethiopia as a 10-year-old and now lives with his parents and three younger sisters in an apartment in the city. His mother, he said, is always "so proud" to hear about someone succeeding in college, but she and her husband aren't in a position to help their children navigate the complicated college application process. It's not something either of his parents are familiar with and they're both busy working caretaker jobs to support the family.
