When Josh walked through the doors of the Westwood, NJ Huntington to take an SAT academic evaluation in mid-August, he was heading into his senior year. Josh had gotten low SAT scores and was banking on his pitching arm to get him into a good college. The first third of Josh's 40-hour SAT program was a struggle. Josh had an apathetic attitude about the entire prep process, which was clearly an attempt to mask the doubts he had in himself. Josh produced a 1300 on his first one, the same score he had on his academic evaluation. It wasn't until the reality set in that this score wouldn't get him into his college prospects that Josh decided to apply himself.

We worked with Josh for several sessions on both verbal and math skills. Josh shared his excitement about being scouted to pitch in college and his fear that his SAT scores would never be good enough to actually get him into school. Josh had grown so accustomed to teachers reprimanding him anytime he insulted himself, eventually he learned to stop himself mid-sentence. Although Josh grew to believe that we all believed in him, he still did not believe in himself.

We called Josh to wish him luck the night before the test and called again the Monday after to see how it went. Josh's mother told us that he came out of the test saying, "I felt smart today," and those words alone made us feel that we had done our job. To hear that declaration of self-confidence was wonderful. Even better, the day Josh received his scores; he called us to share his great news. Josh had scored a 1630. Josh grew to understand that he had more to offer colleges than just a pitching arm. We are so proud of his efforts and growth.

FROM: Josh