What is so special about Ahead?

The key is mentoring. Who are you? What are your interests? What do you think you might like to be when you grow up? What colleges attract you? What keeps you from excelling? What kind of goals do you set for yourself? How many friends do you have? Where can you be more demanding on yourself? What is your schedule like? These and many other questions can make a big difference in someone’s life when they’re asked by the right person. In Ahead, we pair up high school students with successful, ambitious young professionals and college students who are serious about their work and maintain an upright moral conduct in their professional and private lives. Mentors meet with their students at every Ahead session.

Exposure to Careers

Ahead sessions include guest speakers from various professions who talk about their work, the schools they attended, and what it took to get to where they are today. Our variety of speakers have included engineers, architects, lawyers, firemen, policemen, teachers, PhDs, advertising and film professionals, accountants, various consultants, entrepreneurs and others. Internships and workplace visits can be arranged for older students. Here are some of the speakers we have had in the recent past: Anthony Clougherty – CEO, Farmer John’s; Herman Carpenter – Retired General of the Air Force; Paul Ybarra – Captain, Los Angeles Fire Department; Larry Stammer – Writer, Los Angeles Times; Jorge Lazareff – Neurosurgeon, UCLA Medical Center; Ray Smith – Retired Admiral of the Navy Seals; Martin Boles –Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Practical Classes

The biggest complaint of colleges and employers is difficulty in finding people with strong communication skills, an independent and critical mind, a commitment to ethics, and a proven ability to get things done quickly and efficiently. To answer that need, we have put together a curriculum of classes to make our participants respected leaders in whatever environment they enter.

Character Development

Who you are as a person is determined throughout your life, but teenage years are a crucial time to forge good habits, high ideals and a commitment to excellence. Through talks and mentoring, we’ll help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, and give you practical advice and inspiring examples of people who have charted new paths in professional and social environments.

Tutoring

Help is available in any high school discipline.  Tutoring time is between 3 – 4 pm.  Students should call Tilden Study Center to set up appointments.  Available only for Ahead Seminar students.  Proctored homework time is also available during the same hour.