Meet the 2010 NCR Peer Leaders of the Year
Rashid Conteh of T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria,  VA, and Maya Fletcher of Crossland High School in Prince George’s County, MD.

2010 College Summit NCR Peer Leaders of the Year

Rashid Conteh- T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria,  VA

When he was eight years old, Rashid Conteh and his family left war-torn Sierra Leone for the United States, and for a new life. Rashid has taken advantage of all that life in the U.S. has to offer, and has heeded the advice of his parents to follow his dreams and achieve.

Rashid is not only a star athlete at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA, he is also a star student and model Peer Leader. Rashid plays varsity football, track and basketball, and is captain of both the football and track teams. He serves as a member of his school’s Superintendant’s Committee, helping to solve school issues and improve school culture, ethics and academic performance. As a College Summit Peer Leader, Rashid has gone above and beyond. He volunteered to come to school early in the mornings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in order to help his peers write their personal statements, and to encourage them to start the college application process early. Rashid worked with his fellow athletes to help them navigate the college application process and to understand their options and opportunities. He created a SAT study group for his teammates that met before every home game. Rashid helped organize T.C. Williams’ Annual College Night, where over 300 colleges and universities came to the school looking for future prospective students. He also serves as a student peer mentor and tutor. He has done all of this while maintaining an impressive GPA of 3.67.

His College Summit Teacher says of Rashid, “Rashid knew that he was going to use football and tack as a vehicle to get to college and he was determined to make it happen…Rashid’s dedication and commitment to self-advocate, future goals and plans are commendable.” 

One of his peers says, “He continues to amaze me with the way he balances everything and manages to maintain his good grades.”

In the fall, Rashid will begin his college academic career at Oklahoma State University, where he has earned a partial academic scholarship and a partial athletic scholarship, which will equal full tuition for all four years.

Maya Fletcher- Crossland High School in Prince George’s County, MD

For Maya Fletcher, giving is something you do while you’re on your way, not after you reach there. After her College Summit Workshop last summer, she came back to Crossland High School in Prince George’s County, MD certain about what she needed to do to successfully make it to college. During introductions on the first day of her College Summit class, she made it clear that she already had a list of colleges she had researched and planned to visit and apply to. She was one of the few students who was where she needed to be in the process. However, it was Maya who came up to her College Summit teacher after class and stated that not only were her peers not ready for college, she wanted to create a Peer Leader Club and initiate Peer Leader meetings each week in order to do something about it.

Through Maya’s leadership, the Peer Leader Club created a strategy to target freshman and juniors, in order to have the most impact on college-going culture in the school. The club initiated Freshman Talks, giving advice on subjects including the SAT, High School Assessments, recommendations, and peer pressure. The success of these talks led other educators within the school to request that the Peer Leaders speak to their classes. It also resulted in freshmen beginning to actively seek out information about colleges, scholarships and how to become a College Summit Peer Leader. Maya also initiated a college scholarship competition amongst her fellow seniors in order to meet their school goal of $1 million. This competition not only inspired them to meet this goal, but to far exceed it, earning over $2 million in scholarships school wide.

Maya not only motivates her peers, she inspires and is respected by all those around her, including her mentors and educators. Her academic counselor says of Maya, “Her combination of intellectual gifts, and her sense of responsibility towards others, enables one to see what the true value of intelligence and sensitivity can bring to the world.”

“She embodies the essence of what it means to be a Peer Leader”, says one of her College Summit Alumni Leaders.

Maya is currently taking four AP courses and has a 3.35 GPA. She has earned numerous scholarships and was accepted to a number of colleges and universities including: the University of MD- College Park, University of Buffalo, Lenoire-Rhyne University, Hampton University, Georgia Southern University, and University of Hartford. She will attend the University of MD in the fall.