About
This all started with a vision. A vision to create an upward trend in social mobility in which students from low-income backgrounds can rise out of poverty and become leaders, so they can thrive in the real world. And at CounselingConnects, we believe that providing free college counseling to low-income high school students who are in need of it is an initial step to increase social mobility in America.
To provide this free counseling, we are connecting low-income students that exhibit interest in this program to volunteer college counselors who are experienced and qualified.
"Being able to go to college has never been something I needed to worry about since I come from a privileged background that values education and realizing that other students don't have the same opportunities as I do, opened my eyes and made me grateful for how lucky I am. So, my goal is to help low-income be able to go to college and have the same opportunities as me, so they can rise out of their social classes and become young and motivated leaders."
Aruj is a high school student from San Antonio and his hobbies are playing soccer, listening to music, and playing guitar. He is currently working on two social projects, Dream Donations, and CounselingConnects. Dream Donations is a non-profit organization and its mission is to feed homeless individuals with food from various restaurants, so they can enjoy a good, well-rounded meal instead of staying hungry. Dream Donations inspired him to create CounselingConnects so he can continue helping others to a greater extent.
Aruj Khater, Founder
Anushka Jain, Officer
Anushka is a part of the class of 25' in San Antonio, Texas who enjoys dancing, playing tennis, and baking. She is a straight-A student who wants to pursue medicine and help people in the future. She has also been a member of Girl Scouts for the past 9 years, in which she has held various leadership positions. She has also won awards in various academic competitions. Anushka is a compassionate and caring person who simply wants to make a difference in the community.
Aura Bafna, Officer
Aura is an Edina Minnesota High School student from the class of 2024. Her forte consists of speech, debate, ultimate frisbee, and music. She is intrigued by art and the study of physics. Aura has spoken on numerous occasions about racial issues/injustices in the 21st century, and she continues to succeed in debate and speech tournaments. Her current focus is being an active team member for CounselingConnects, which strives to assist low-income students with the college process.
Peter Han, Head Counselor
Peter focused on biology and medicine at Brown University and on Organizational Development at UCLA. He has over 20 years of experience consulting for large corporations in organizational and talent development. For the past ten years, Peter has mentored youth in India, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Switzerland, Bangladesh, Hungary and the US to use Human Centered Design to solve real-world problems in their local communities. He has also advised families and youth on college admissions since 2010.
We believe all students have the potential to succeed in life, no matter what background they are from.
Our Mission
At CounselingConnects, our goal is to provide free college counseling to low-income students in the United States so they can pursue their dream college and become great leaders.
Our Vision
Our vision is to cultivate young and motivated leaders from low-income backgrounds, that can thrive in the real world and attend their ideal college with proper guidance from CounselingConnects.
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