Researching Lived Experience: Students of Color Getting to and through Elite Colleges

Rising Senior Walter Chacón is a Sociology major with a minor in Education Studies from Lynn, MA. He discusses the need for teachers, professors, and others working in student support roles to possess cultural competency. His upcoming honors project examines the experiences of students of color who make up the "privileged poor," those who attend elite prep schools prior to matriculating at highly-selective colleges, and students of color who may be "doubly disadvantaged" because they are underprepared by their schools to succeed in colleges like Bowdoin. Walter is a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow and a Senior Interviewer for Bowdoin College Admissions.