Success Stories

Each Building STEPS student has a story. Most of the students live in single parent households, or with another relative. Almost none live with a college graduate.

The two students highlighted below exemplify Building STEPS students and the positive effect of participating in this program.

Kelly was unsure about applying to Building STEPS because her interest was not science or technology, she was interested in business and hoped to attend Catonsville Community College. She was president of her class, played on a varsity team and worked part-time at a nearby health club. After one of the monthly seminars, Kelly voiced her interest in some of the careers highlighted. Like many Building STEPS students, Kelly's path was changed through the two-year program. Kelly received a full four-year scholarship to the University of Maryland, College Park. She graduated in May 2006 with a BS degree in Finance and a 3.8 GPA. She currently works at PricewaterhouseCoopers doing Federal Consulting for their Washington Federal Practice in DC. In addition to working, she is attending the University of Maryland, University College as a part-time graduate student to receive a dual degree in MBA/MS in Management with a concentration in Health Care Administration.

Theophilus applied to Building STEPS with an interest in computers. During the tour of University of Maryland Baltimore County's lab facilities, Theophilus mentioned he wanted to change his major from computers to pre-med. During his junior year at Dunbar, Theophilus began to focus his studies and his attention on attending college, pre-med. Theophilus was accepted to Gettysburg, Dickinson, St. Mary's, UMBC and Johns Hopkins. While Gettysburg was Theophilus' first choice, Building STEPS guided him to accept Hopkins' offer of a full, four-year scholarship. He received his undergraduate degree in Public Health from Hopkins in 2006. In 2007, he received a Masters degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.