NJCDC has been an integral part of Daniel Cobar's life for 11 years. From his freshman year at Garrett Morgan Academy (GMA)--which NJCDC founded in 2000 to provide students with a curriculum that makes STEM instruction relevant and accessible --to now giving back to NJCDC as an AvalonBay employee, the organization has played a major role in Daniel's life. As Daniel said, "There is no doubt that I can attribute my time at Garrett Morgan Academy as pivotal to my life. I am grateful to NJCDC for illuminating my path."
As an eighth grade student, Daniel chose to attend GMA for high school because it had an interview process, which included assembling robots. He said, "I got to see the robotics team in action, which really helped me finalize my decision, since I wanted to focus on hands-on learning. I had grown up doing construction with my dad, and I wanted to continue to do that, but on the engineering side." He also joined the inaugural class of the Paterson Youth Council (PYC), a year-long leadership development program for Paterson teens.
At GMA, students had a great deal of interaction with NJCDC's AmeriCorps members. Daniel credits them with helping him with his schoolwork, getting him into summer camps, and chaperoning his field trips. He said, "The AmeriCorps members were very hands-on, and essential to making the experience at GMA as great as it was." The members also informed Daniel of an opportunity he hadn't previously heard of--the Governor's School of New Jersey. Established in 1983, the tuition-free, summer, residential program is for high-achieving high school seniors who have an interest in STEM. It was the first time in many years that a student from Paterson was selected for the prestigious program.
The experience was educational in more ways than one. Daniel said, "The Governor's School really opened my eyes to what was possible, but also to how competitive the college admissions process is. I had dreamed of going to MIT because of my favorite superhero, Ironman, but otherwise I didn't know much about individual schools. This really broadened my horizons in terms of how prepared other students--especially those from more affluent communities--were."
While Daniel didn't end up going to MIT, he was waitlisted--an impressive feat, as the school typically offers only 2% of applicants a spot on the waitlist. Daniel instead attended Lehigh University, where he majored in Industrial and Product Design. He said, "Lehigh is a smaller college, which worked well for me because I was used to small class sizes from GMA." During college, Daniel also served as a Head Counselor at the Governor's School; during this time, two more GMA students were selected for the program.
After graduating from Lehigh, Daniel returned to GMA--this time as an AmeriCorps member. Throughout his service, he helped with lunch programming, after school programming, and even financial education, which taught students about building budgets, determining what paychecks look like after removing taxes and other deductions, averaging expenses, and more. Daniel also taught the students about what their lives could look like after high school and college, the college admissions process, navigating financial aid, and science and engineering careers.
When Daniel was a student at GMA, students' senior project included partnering with BMW to build road safety devices; the students had been divided into teams, and then built prototypes and presented their work to BMW employees at their headquarters. As an AmeriCorps member, Daniel recreated this project. While the AmeriCorps program was a lot of work, Daniel said, "There are lots of things you can achieve in life--but nothing like helping someone learn and opening doors for them. There's nothing as rewarding as that. So while it was tough being an AmeriCorps member, it was certainly worth it."
After finishing his AmeriCorps term, Daniel had to decide what to do next. While he considered applying to engineering firms, he decided to combine his experience in construction, degree in Industrial and Product Design, and engineering knowledge, and did an internship at AvalonBay. Over the last six years, Daniel has worked his way up to become first a Maintenance Supervisor, then a Maintenance Manager, and now a Senior Maintenance Manager. He said, "I didn't want to feel stuck in what I was doing, and with real estate, it's very different every day."
Three years ago, as Daniel was moving up at AvalonBay, he decided to go back to school to learn more about tackling problems in real estate and business in general. He enrolled in Harvard Extension School's master's program in management. Founded in 1910, the Extension School extends Harvard outside its normal boundaries, and serves students seeking part-time, online, and nonresidential educational opportunities. Daniel said, "I chose the school because of ideology, not its name brand, and I'd recommend it to anyone."
Over this time period, giving back to Paterson began to play a larger role in Daniel's life. When AvalonBay rolled out its philanthropy initiative, Daniel became involved in the Philanthropy Committee, and recommended they support NJCDC. He said, "You can't talk about developing communities in New Jersey without talking about NJCDC." He added, "AvalonBay's slogan is 'Building strong communities' and NJCDC's work aligns with that perfectly." Last year, AvalonBay adopted NJCDC as one of its two charities statewide.
This past May, Daniel graduated from Harvard Extension School with his Masters in Liberal Arts in Management. He said, "It has been an incredible experience to say the least. With the drive instilled in me from Paterson, I not only graduated, but I graduated first in my class of 600, receiving the Harold Langlois Award for outstanding academic achievement and promise as a manager."
NJCDC CEO Bob Guarasci said, "Knowing Daniel when he was so young--and now seeing him grow professionally and academically--is enormously gratifying for me and my colleagues. What Daniel's accomplished is truly phenomenal, and we are enormously proud of him! Daniel's story is one of succeeding in spite of obstacles and in part due to the work that NJCDC does; Daniel's story motivates me and my colleagues to work harder to create opportunities for the other students we serve."
Congratulations to Daniel on his much-deserved success!