VIDAL Access

Four years ago, Ayden walked into Mr. Bev’s office as a freshman at John Carroll. Four years later…it was time for the championship moment. Mr. Bev was driving when a message came through: “NYU decisions just came out.” He pulled over so they could open the decision together on Zoom, a fitting player-and-coach moment years in the making. Moments later, Ayden was admitted to New York University—on a full ride. From day one, Ayden has been a standout scholar and student leader. Over the past four years, he has taken 15 AP classes, served as a JC Ambassador, been selected to the Ronald McDonald Student Leadership Council, and launched the Future Medical Leaders of America (FMLA) club at JCCHS. All the while, he balanced school with the real world, working roughly 25–30 hours per week since freshman year. Behind the scenes, Ayden spent countless hours refining every part of his college applications alongside Mr. Bev, from his activities list and resume to what felt like an endless stream of essays. Last summer, Ayden participated in the Dream Initiative, a college, career, and cultural program of @vidalaccess . During the trip, he visited colleges like NYU, attended a Broadway show and a Yankees game, and met with professionals from the NYSE, Google, Morgan Stanley, and The New York Times. Now, he’s heading back to New York City—this time as an NYU student. Congratulations, Ayden. NYC is waiting. 🗽🎓 College. Career. Culture. @vidalaccess

Meet Ja’Mez, a 2025 graduate of Montgomery Public Schools and 2025 member of VIDAL’s Dream Initiative program - which included an all-expenses paid college, career, and cultural trip to NYC (courtesy of generous funding from the MG Goodrich Foundation and Alabama State Department of Education). Upon meeting us for the first time in the summer, followed by intensive financial aid conversations shortly thereafter, Ja’Mez reasoned that a gap year was more desirable than incurring ~$70k in debt to attend college in Atlanta. Further, he saw the potential in himself, coupled with our application assistance, to get into a top school and amplify his chances of success in the world of art. Now, just 4.5 months later, this video marks the moment Ja’Mez realized his dream of getting into NYU and going to the Big Apple 🍎 🏙️ for college - all with no debt. There, Mez will continue his pursuit of becoming an icon within the spaces of fashion and photography. This was much deserved and one of our favorite success stories to date. Congrats, Mez. You earned it. 🫡 🥹 🎉 ❤️

Watch the moment Luis is admitted to Rice University, followed by the warm embrace of his mother. 🥹🥹🥹 Luis is a brilliant young man who is currently a senior of Holy Family Cristo Rey @hfcristorey . This summer, he went to New York City as part of VIDAL Access’s Dream Initiative Program. Led by Rep. Phil Ensler @phil_ensler_ and VIDAL Access Founder/CEO Lance Beverly, the Dream Initiative allows participants to engage in fun activities and amazing career exposure opportunities, from attending a Yankees game and Broadway show to chatting with McKinsey consultants and Google computer scientists (and much more!). Afterwards, Luis invested in himself by utilizing 20+ hours of individualized college consulting support from VIDAL Access. Between his 4 years of hard work in high school, along with doing all that he could in the application process, Luis realized his dream of attending Rice University to study business. We love you, Luis, and we’re so happy and excited for you and your family. ❤️ 🫶🫂

This is the moment Ramsay HS senior @jaidynnperkins was admitted into @yale ! ❤️🥹🎉🎊🥳Jaidynn worked hard last spring with VIDAL to be admitted into the @questbridge Summer Prep Scholars program. After continued essay and application work in the fall, resulting in her becoming a Finalist for the QuestBridge College Match scholarship this October, she decided to apply Regular Decision via Questbridge. Ultimately, on March 30 (Ivy Day), Jaidynn received the news she had long been hoping for, getting into Dartmouth College AND Yale University!🥹Congrats and much love to @jaidynnperkins and Momma Perkins @_andreaperkins_ ! ❤️ You’ll do great things at Yale and beyond! @vidalaccess @yale @questbridge @ramsayhighscho1 @yaleadmissions

Beyond 1-on-1 college consulting, VIDAL Access’s in-school model offers the opportunity to impact culture and improve policies/procedures around college and career preparation. In this picture, for example, VIDAL is conducting professional development for in-school ACT prep. Teachers and 11th graders are being provided with free ACT books, in addition to online test prep support for more targeted intervention. During the school day, we are carving out 3 hours per week of ACT prep, along with 10 total practice tests leading up to the April test date. Teachers are being equipped with the knowledge and tools to carry out test prep within their own classroom, and our online resource tracks student data to ensure fidelity to the test prep process. #vidalaccess #edtech #collegeaccess #actprep

This is the moment Britney matched via @questbridge to @uofpenn and became Ivy bound! 🎉🎉🎉 She will be attending the esteemed University of Pennsylvania to ultimately become a dentist!😁🦷🪥Because she matched by way of Questbridge’s National College Match program, she will be attending UPenn for $0.00. Britney killed it throughout this process, constantly demonstrating humility, diligence, and positivity. Way to put Penn to paper, Britney! 😉We’re so proud of you. 🥹❤️❤️❤️🎈🎊🎈🎉🥳🎈🎊

Meet Crystal, a 2022 John Carroll graduate! VIDAL's Mr. Bev worked with Crystal for over 20 hours, providing support from essay development to college list finalization. Ultimately, after a long, arduous admissions journey, Crystal earned acceptances to @middleburycollege , @colgateuniversity , and @northeastern ! To help Crystal make her college decision, VIDAL leveraged its funding support from its wonderful partners (MG Goodrich, @communityfoundationbham CFGB, Daniel Foundation, EBSCO, Hugh Kaul, Cleary Family Foundation, and donors!) to provide both her and her mother with free, round-trip airfare to visit these schools. As a result of the visits, Crystal decided that Northeastern was her best fit college! Crystal took the opportunity to vlog her experience, too, so make sure to check out her journey! We're so proud of you, Crys!

Congrats to our 2022 seniors! VIDAL's first year at JCCHS resulted in a big step forward in enhancing the college culture at the school. We increased gift aid from $3.6 to $7.5+ million; 211 total scholarships/grants were received, with 75% of seniors receiving scholarships. 100% of students fulfilled their FAFSA requirement. Beyond the traditional state schools, VIDAL helped students earn acceptances to schools like Columbia, Emory, Rhodes, Northeastern, Middlebury, UVA, Colgate, Wake Forest, Boston College, and Bucknell. This stems from 1,127 college counseling sessions and 939 hours of counseling time, spanning from essay development to test prep. More broadly, we enhanced access to universities, with 42 different college reps conducting information sessions for JCCHS students (a 3x increase). To cap off the year, VIDAL overhauled Senior Awards Night by way of catering from @trelunacatering , arrangements from @dandelionflowersandplants , and photo booths and a 12x6' signing banner. After all, in celebrating successes, we can implicitly demonstrate to underclassmen what's also possible for them! Over the summer, we will not only continue our college consulting efforts at JCCHS, but we will also more generally offer consulting support around academic offerings, enrichment opportunities, and generating a cohesive mission/vision for the school. We're so proud of our students, along with the opportunity to continue advancing the wonderful school that is JCCHS. #collegeaccess #VIDALaccess #jcchs

2022 Senior Night at JCCHS! #VIDALaccess #collegeaccess #johncarrollcatholichs #2022seniors

So happy to have hosted UAB, Auburn, and Paul Mitchell at the Magic City Acceptance Academy the past three Fridays! Students were able to learn about the admissions process at these respective institutions, along with information about student life! @chooseuab @auburn_admissions @pmtsbirmingham @mcaa_bham @mcacbham

Thanks to @talkofalabama for having us on last week to share information about our genesis and the work that VIDAL does! In case you missed it, just Google “VIDAL Access Talk of Alabama”! As always, special thanks to our funders and partners! @johncarrollbham @mcaa_bham @coosavalleyacademy @mps_ala @thedanielfoundation @ebscoind @communityfoundationbham

When you feel like you just won the Super Bowl. 🎉🎈🎊🎉🎈🎊🥳 Congrats to José on his acceptance to Columbia University!! 🐐🐐🐐 #vidalaccess #collegeaccess #columbiauniversity #earlydecision #tombrady