Alumni Profile - Armani Eady, DDC 2014
Armani Eady
The Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem, 2010 - 2014
Loyola University New Orleans, 2014 – 2018 Expected graduation
I was “never in a [community] full of people who are rooting for you to succeed until DDC.”
Armani grew up in Harlem. She and her family learned of the Double Discovery Center (DDC) from an internet search of programs that provided academic assistance and college preparatory skills. She first joined DDC’s Early Intervention Initiative (EII), the Center’s middle school program, in the seventh grade. Armani and her family were seeking assistance with the high school admissions and application process.
In the 9th grade, she moved to DDC’s Talent Search program for high school students. Her goal was college. Armani and her family wanted to remain with the Center because of the academic support and the college and financial aid application assistance the Center continued to offer. “DDC nurtures your dreams and I [had] a dream of going to college,” she said.
Double Discovery “does not give you an option to fail,” she added.
With the assistance of her Counselor Claytoya Tugwell, Armani researched public and private colleges inside and outside of New York State. “DDC [worked] with me to find a school that is right for me…. DDC helps all of its students [who want to] apply to college and not just people who want to go to the Ivy League,” she said.
“They backed me and my decision.” They made sure “that my application [was] the best it could be,” she added.
I was “never in a [community] full of people who are rooting for you to succeed until DDC,” Armani said.
She recalled that for one application, she worked with her counselor from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. “revising [her] personal statements and triple checking for typos.” She continued, “We went through the application line by line to make sure everything was correct.”
Academically, “tutoring helped me raise my grade in trigonometry from a 75 to 85,” she said.
In addition to the college preparatory assistance and academic support, Armani developed her writing, presentation and leadership skills. She recalled, “Double Discovery helped me with my confidence [and] public speaking.” Her work with her counselor and DDC staff gave her the confidence to enter DDC’s annual Elizabeth H. Piper Essay and Oral Presentation Contest. Armani won third place. “I didn’t believe I could pull it off… When I received the email that I had won, I started crying,” she remembered.
Her time with the Center also inspired Armani to give back to the community. After working on a DDC service project where she fed Thanksgiving dinner to families in need, Armani decided to take a more active role at the Center and her school. At DDC, she joined the Philosophy, Writing and Women’s Empowerment Clubs. At her high school, Armani created her school’s first student government and founded the Black Student Union. Armani also convinced school officials to allow her entire senior class to wear the hashtage #bringbackourgirls on their graduation caps in support of the young women kidnapped by Nigerian militants.
“I learned at DDC that if I wanted something, I cannot wait for it to be done. I have to make it happen.”
By Lisa Herndon
Photo Credit: Rebecca Castillo