Carol Moreno
Lead Admissions Coach
The first in her family to earn a college degree, Carol Moreno understands the challenges faced by motivated high schoolers from underrepresented backgrounds. She was at the top of her class, but her parents, who had emigrated to Southern California from Mexico, were unfamiliar with their new country’s educational ladder.
“I really had nobody to help me navigate college applications and the financial aid process,” Moreno recalls. So, her reasons for working with Bovard Scholars as a lead admissions coach are as personal as they are professional.
The personal aspect dates back to her time at UCLA, where she graduated with a BA in sociology before earning her MS in education from the University of La Verne. “I wanted to be able to see more students who look like me,” she says.
Professionally, Moreno has been counseling students at Green Dot Public Schools for nearly 19 years. Her career has taken her from New York to Washington, D.C., and back to her native Los Angeles. “My passion is getting kids into college,” she says, which is why she’s happily worked with Bovard Scholars since the program’s launch in 2017. “It’s very rewarding to see students go from doubting themselves to getting into their dream schools.”
“One of the things that makes Bovard such an amazing organization is that we’re very collaborative,” she says, noting how coaches share ideas and knowledge throughout the year to enhance their support for students. For instance, Moreno and fellow lead coach Tracy Matthews developed college admissions case studies workshops that they co-conduct.
“We reach out to counselors at highly competitive universities so our students can see behind the scenes how admissions staff read applications and what they look for,” Moreno says. She also helps facilitate the Bovard Scholars alumni panels, which enable current students to connect with and hear about the college experience from previous scholars.
The program forges deep connections between scholars and the coaches mentoring them, Moreno notes. “I often hear from scholars after they graduate from college,” she says.
And they know they can come to her for help and advice long after the summer intensive and year-long Bovard Scholars program ends.
“Some of the young scholars I work with wonder if they can really get into schools like Yale or Harvard,” Moreno says. “And I let them know, 100 percent, that they belong there.”