Unshocking Revelations: NYC Prep School Students? Are Not Always White.
22 June 2009, 3:45 PM. By Alex Alvarez
While many TV viewers are content to watch spoiled caricatures traipse across their screens in shows like Gossip Girl and NYC Prep (no one, of course, lives outside of New York, and a quick stroll through Bushwick will quickly prove that everyone in New York City is white), there are many students attending ritzy Manhattan preparatory schools who happen to be neither white nor bratty.
The NY Daily News took a look at three exceptional students who attend prestigious academies in New York City, despite not fitting the stereotypical background commonly associated with such schools.
Emily Galindo from Queens, Greer Hanshaw from Canarsie, and Olufemi Leverett from Bed-Stuy all attend “fancy” schools thanks to the efforts of Prep for Prep, a non-profit whose mission statement is as follows:
Since 1978, Prep has identified New York City’s most promising students of color and prepared them for placement at independent schools in the city and boarding schools throughout the Northeast. Once placed, Prep offers support and opportunities to ensure the academic accomplishment and personal growth of each one of our students. The expression, “Leaders Don’t Just Happen,” inspires everything we do.
The three students profiled all shared that they’ve had to face discrimination or prejudices on some level, whether from the teachers at their previous public schools or from students at their new private schools. Olufemi was asked if she’d ever witnessed a shooting in her neighborhood, which is a lovely ice breaker to use in the school cafeteria.
We went to a pretty snazzy prep school ourself but, it being in Miami, people who were not Latina were the minority and, as far as we could tell, huge discrepancies in money among students’ families were never a topic of discussion. In fact, we never realized our classmates were extremely wealthy until we visited their houses and got lost trying to find a bathroom.
Have any of you experienced discrimination of any sort at school? How did you deal with it?
The real stars of NYC Prep: No, they don’t come from wealthy families - they simply work very hard [NY Daily News]
(7) 
Post Your Comment
Did you know you can now share a link, image or video?
Click to submit your own notas.
I am a Prep for Prep grad, and did the NYC private school thing from 7-12. I’ve had horrible experiences (from being on a class trip and learning that the password to getting into the room next door was “(myname) is a f-ed up Mexican (I’m not mexican), to wonderful experiences of being elected first Latino Upper School president. There are some parallels to Gossip Girl, etc, (i’ve been to some INSANE penthouse parties) but mostly, those kids with real money don’t tend to flaunt it. In my experience, the richer kids tried hard to fit in and be “down” with the poorer, darker-looking kids. Some of mybest friends (and enemies) came from people with REAL money.
A lot is what you make of it, but NYC is unique in that private does not always = catholic, and there is a whole community of private school educated students of color, who often go to similar colleges and bond further there. Very different from the Miami south or LA experiences, for sure… I can tell you more if you want…
All money is real money. Yes, there are fools who distinguish between “old” vs. “new,” but in my reality all it does is entrench the very system that results in tremendous social inequality.
Yes, I went to a prep school (in LA) on full scholarship. Yes, I hated those bastards (who love themselves some racist shit), but I’m grateful I got my chance to go to a top college and grad school and take care of my family. I hate that I had to be “lucky” to get a quality pre-college education.
What I mean by real is not the the money isn’t green. But have you ever noticed that those who are comfortable in their wealth (at least in this country) tend to be less snobbish than those grasping to climb up the economic social ladder? By “real” I mean money that doesn’t disappear because daddy looses his posh job or the stock market turns. Money that is made because the family makes real stuff or runs and controls their financial destiny through work as opposed to connections and privilege. In my experience Americans are less snobby, say than Latin Americans in their own wealth, mostly because I feel Latin American “Fresas” tend to be less secure in themselves than American wealth. In fact, I’ll say that Latin American rich folk are more snobby that American rich folk. And that’s from exposure to both kinds, not just from watching telenovelas.
Americans loves the story of the poor kid who did right. They may even give that kid an opportunity to prove him/herself, whether because of “white guilt” or not, doesn’t matter to the kid given a good job or able to go to college on scholarship. Latin Americans tend to think roots are more important than your abilities, and will actually try to shut you down if they don’t think you are “one of them.” “Quien conoces?” Is the ultimate test of what social network you belong to, and in my experience, would make the difference between opportunity and getting dismissed as an outsider. Again, this speaking from experience with both kinds of rich folks.
I see some of this even on this site, and especially in Miami where I am often…Fresas within our own Raza are much more of a hinderance to social mobility than Americans. That’s why while I love being Latino, I’d thank my lucky stars to be in the USA.
You’re right about the difference between wealthy whites and wealthy hispanics. I had the honor to get accepted into a private catholic university in southern California, and I witness the difference. The hispanic rich kids were the worst. They treated the darker hispanics like shit. If you didn’t drive a BMW you were shit to them.
The Hills & Gossip Girl are enough shows for me about rich kids.. I haven’t seen this one and I don’t plan on it.
Right? I don’t understand the appeal of shows where the theme is nothing more than “these people are rich.” Especially during a recession.
As another Prep for Prep alumn, there’s definately a dark side to being one of the darkies at these schools…yet I digress. By far one of the most embarrassing experiences of my life was the fundraiser I attended upon graduating from my preppy blancito high school. Prep for Prep, or ‘Prep’ for short, hosts an event called the ‘Lilac Ball’ every year wear where brown kids that have successfully completed the guantlet that is prep school in new york are paraded around like a minstrel show to the socially progressive, financially liquid, and altogether guilty-feeling white people. To think that some of my classmates’ parents were shaking my hand and congratulating me, an “inner city-youth” for being the embodiment of the American dream… rigtht.
Try telling your snobby kids not to literally look down upon me cuz i don’t have a doorman, or a nanny, or a country house, or because I take mass transit to school
I’m so not bitter, like at all