One thing most people don't know about me is that I studied Public Health in undergrad.
In public health, the goal is to prevent problems before they happen. But our healthcare system spends more time and money on tertiary prevention, trying to manage problems after they've become severe and, in many cases, irreversible.
The concept of primary prevention completely changed how I see the world. It's actually one of the reasons I became a teacher. Because the more I worked in community health, the more I realized that education is one of the biggest social determinants of opportunity.
Pair educational inequities with poverty, and you've created conditions with generational effects.
So when people ask why I spend so much time talking to middle schoolers, freshmen, and sophomores... This is WHY.
This is what primary prevention looks like in higher education. You don't wait until senior year to start thinking about college.
You Start early. Plan early. Learn the hidden curriculum before it becomes a barrier.
You give yourself enough time to explore, make mistakes, adjust, and grow.
By senior year, I don't want students scrambling to build a competitive profile.
I want them making confident decisions with a profile they've intentionally built over time.