REACH Prep

We hope you will drop in and shop the Cara Cara Summer Collection next week!
Support REACH Prep and look good while doing it in your new summer styles.

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In honor of May being Mental Health Awareness Month, we want to recognize the importance of providing students necessary tools and access to mental health resources.

REACH Prep's Director of Middle School Programs, Nupsie Exantus, has her doctorate degree in social work and has spent over a decade developing and facilitating Life-skills & Social Emotional Learning workshops for middle and high school students. In addition to the workshops Nupsie hosts, we also partner with individuals and organizations that provide additional support for our scholars and families.

Mental health matters, and we are committed to ensuring students have the opportunity to access mental health support throughout their educational journeys.

Last month, REACH Prep high school scholars attended our annual college visit field trip. Students toured Franklin & Marshall, Haverford, University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton.

The opportunity to visit these campuses and meet with current REACH Prep college students is an essential part of our college guidance programming. The group had lunch with University of Pennsylvania students Shanika from Cohort 20 and Solon from Cohort 24, and Isabella from Cohort 24 at Princeton. The 10th and 11th grade students left the trip with a better understanding of what goes into the college decision process and the transition to college experience.

Have you met our Director of Development, Deirdre O’Brien? Learn some facts about Deirdre!

1) Deirdre joined the team in October 2025. She leads REACH Prep’s fundraising strategy and development efforts, with a focus on expanding support across Westchester, New York City, and Fairfield County, securing foundation funding, and building corporate partnerships.

2) Deirdre began her career as a human rights lawyer, working in post-conflict environments in Northern Ireland and Bosnia. She later transitioned into fundraising at Holy Child Rye, her alma mater and one of REACH Prep’s founding partner schools, where she discovered the power of philanthropy to drive transformational outcomes. One of her proudest professional accomplishments was securing a $1.2 million gift, the largest single donation in the school’s history.

3) Beyond her professional responsibilities, Deirdre shared, “From a young age, I have loved to travel and feel fortunate for the opportunities I’ve had, which have shaped me tremendously. Living overseas as an undergraduate, during law school, and while earning my master’s in international human rights, deepened my appreciation for different cultures. These experiences have also inspired my love of cooking!”

Deirdre has been a great addition to our team, and we are grateful for all the work she has already done for our program!

Happy International Women's Day! We always celebrate the accomplishments of our scholars and alumni, and today we are especially proud of and grateful for the contributions of all the wonderful women who are part of the REACH Prep community.

We're thrilled to share that Alex, a senior at The Masters School from Cohort 25, recently received the good news that he was admitted to his dream school, Massachusetts Institute of Technology!

Alex shared, "I am most looking forward to being in a new academic environment and meeting people who share my interests at MIT. In the future, I hope to work in the biotech industry, either as a part of a firm or by making my own startup."

We're so proud of Alex's hard work and look forward to continuing to support him throughout his college experience!

Marleyna is a REACH Prep Alumna from Cohort 18, and we are pleased to share some exciting updates about what she’s been doing since graduating from New York University in 2023.

After college, Marleyna joined the Peace Corps, where she has been teaching English in Costa Rica. She shared that some highlights of her time include “hiking to hidden waterfalls, learning to make tamales with my host grandma, thrift shopping with my host brother, accompanying my students to the National Student Arts Festival, and going whale watching.” She also said, “I’ve learned to approach all conflict with curiosity and that I’m far more flexible than I give myself credit for.”

Marleyna plans to pursue a career in international development, helping to create more equitable social infrastructure in Latin America. Next year, she will attend graduate school in England. She has been accepted to three of the four programs she applied to and is waiting to hear back from the final school. She explained how REACH Prep has supported her through independent school, financial aid for NYU, scholarships and study abroad, and, most recently, graduate school applications.

We’re thrilled that Marleyna has had such an incredible experience and look forward to hearing about the next chapter of her educational journey in England!

We’re excited to feature Jayden, a junior at Brandeis University in Cohort 22.

Jayden and his team recently won the gold prize at HackHarvard, Harvard University’s annual hackathon that brings together participants from across the continent for a weekend of collaborative hardware and software development. He and his team built an application for the Apple Vision Pro that blended language learning with real-world interaction, inspired by Duolingo but grounded in spatial computing. While wearing the headset, users could look at real-world objects and see an interactive menu displaying translations into a language of their choice, along with cultural fun facts related to those objects.

Jayden also worked with the Brandeis Admissions Office on another Apple Vision Pro application to expand access to campus visits. This application enables admissions officers to bring the campus experience directly to students across the country using the headset. Through an immersive virtual tour, students can explore different areas of campus, visit dorms and dining halls, and hear firsthand from current students about their experiences, all while feeling as though they are physically present on campus.

When asked about his career goals, Jayden shared, “My career aspirations center on being at the forefront of emerging technologies and, ultimately, creating products that meaningfully impact people’s lives around the world. Much of my recent side-project work has focused on virtual and augmented reality, which are fields I strongly believe are poised for significant growth as technology and society continue to evolve.”

We’re proud of all that Jayden has accomplished and look forward to seeing him continue to learn and grow, especially as he prepares for his upcoming internship at Bloomberg. He shared, “I will have the opportunity to work at a large, global technology company and contribute to systems that operate at a significant scale. I am eager to learn from experienced engineers and industry leaders, collaborate with fellow interns from diverse backgrounds, and gain firsthand insight into how high-impact software is built and maintained."

Last weekend, REACH Prep's Director of Middle School Programs attended Horace Mann's dance recital. Ava, Ella, and Zaylee from Cohort 30, Saffron from Cohort 29, and Nylah from Cohort 28 all danced in the show!

We are always happy to support our students in the classroom and outside of it, cheering them on as they excel in their studies and extracurriculars!

We're thrilled to feature Mumbi from Cohort 22, a junior at American University studying Public Relations and Strategic Communications with a minor in Marketing.

Mumbi shared how REACH Prep has provided her with numerous tools to achieve success with her academic and professional goals, such as access to interview coaching and workshops that have supported resume building and job research.

Recently, Mumbi launched her own magazine called Mwanga Magazine. She shared, "I have always loved reading and collecting magazines. Mwanga is a magazine aimed at inspiring young people who are open-minded, creative, and drawn to print media. I have learned so much from building the magazine from scratch. At the beginning, I was the founder, editor, graphic designer, photoshoot director, writer, manager of article writers, and marketer. Now, I have an editorial board of volunteers who are helping to take a little weight off my shoulders, and it's really exciting to work with other creatives."

Mumbi also shared the inspiration behind the name Mwanga, explaining, "Mwanga means 'light' in Swahili, which is my mom's native language in Kenya. The magazine serves as a way to inspire others as well as provide an outlet to highlight authentic stories and voices."

We're proud of Mumbi's entrepreneurial, creative spirit, and ambition, and look forward to checking out the next edition of Mwanga! https://mwangamag.com/