Meet Merab
Walter Johnson High School, Class of 2007
University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Nursing, Class of 2012
“I knew that … everyone at CDI was willing to go the extra mile to help me. I could not have done this by myself.”
A member of the first class of CDI Scholars, Merab Okeyo exemplifies why we do what we do. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, she moved to the United States so her father could work as a chauffeur to the Kenyan ambassador. At Walter Johnson High School, Merab was vice president of the Peer Counseling Program, president of the Photography Club, and a member of the varsity track and field team. Her dual passions were chemistry and caring for others, and she dreamed of working for Doctors Without Borders.
Merab knew that she had to attend college to achieve her goals. Her father had only been educated through high school, her mother only through primary school. She applied to Collegiate Directions, Inc. hoping that we could give her the guidance that her parents could not. Merab was all the things we look for in a CDI Scholar, but she did not have a green card; she was in the country on her father’s work visa. This precluded her from getting federal financial aid, making paying for college much more difficult. Still, founding executive director Theresa Atta could not turn her away.
Merab flourished in the CDI program. She worked with tutors to raise her test scores and with counselors to complete her college applications. With CDI’s guidance, she chose to attend a well-regarded college in New York, where she had been named a Presidential Scholar, the highest merit award offered by the school. Ineligible for federal aid, Theresa counseled her that receiving merit aid would be crucial to her ability to attend and complete college.
Merab thrived at college. She maintained a B+ GPA and was elected president of the new cultural club. She described her freshman year as, “the most fulfilling and active year of my entire educational career.” Then, she was informed that her scholarship would not be renewed.
With CDI’s help, Merab crafted an appeal to the financial aid office. When that proved fruitless, CDI founder Nina Marks and Theresa made their own appeals to the staff. Before school began, Theresa traveled from CDI’s office in Bethesda to the college’s campus in New York to personally appeal to the financial aid office. To everyone’s dismay, the situation remained unchanged.
Together with the team, Merab made a plan. She would attend Montgomery College for a while, taking classes and working multiple jobs to save money. Disappointed but not defeated, Merab worked hard at Montgomery College for three semesters, maintaining a 3.8 GPA. After that, she transferred to the University of Maryland, Baltimore School of Nursing, graduating in 2012.
Today, Merab works as a Registered Nurse and is now getting her Master of Science in Nursing. She remains an active part of the CDI family. She serves on the alumni committee and often returns to the office to meet with younger students.
Merab’s story is not an uncommon one for low-income, first-generation students. Many intelligent and driven students are prevented from completing college by financial obstacles and a lack of familiarity with the college process. Merab doesn’t like to think about what might have happened if the CDI family had not been pulling for her every step of the way. “I knew that … everyone at CDI was willing to go the extra mile to help me. I could not have done this by myself.”
