Show Notes
Welcome back to the podcast! Today’s episode is hosted by Tom Campbell, a former admission officer and now a college counselor and content creator here at College Essay Guy. This show often reminds us that beneath the essays, the deadlines, and the color-coded college lists, this whole thing is really about people — and today’s guest is exhibit A.
Quick disclaimer: this is a feel-good episode. Very “This American Life.” If you’ve ever needed your faith in public education restored, cancel your other plans. In a content landscape where some of the loudest admissions “experts” run on rage-bait and loose credentials, my guest is the opposite. And his name is David Cha.
In this episode I finally sit down with David. We get into:
- David’s five-minute life story: how a kid from Koreatown, one youth pastor’s quiet act of grace, and a hard left turn away from a communications career set David on the path to public education
- What it took to build the AVID program from scratch in 2001, overcoming early skepticism to help first-generation students thrive
- The evolution of the Bears University Seminar (BUS) and how a team of committed educators scaled a small library workshop into a massive success story
- Which CEG resources have quietly become game-changers inside BUS — yes, including the 250 copies of College Essay Essentials he bought as gifts for this year’s graduates.
- And his hard-won advice for any public school educator trying to build a college-going culture against very long odds
- Oh, and at one point David volunteers his own high school SAT score to our dear listeners. I’ll let him tell you that one.
David Cha is a veteran educator with 27 years of classroom experience and holds two Masters degrees from Biola and Grand Canyon. A recent recipient of the Mayor of Downey’s Outstanding Citizen Award, David has built a legacy of impactful college-prep programming at Warren High School. In 2001, he launched the school’s AVID program with just 30 students—an initiative that now serves nearly 600 students locally and has expanded districtwide down to the elementary level. David is also the founder of the Bears University Seminar (BUS), a summer essay and application bootcamp established in 2019. What began as a small workshop has grown into a massive success story, recently guiding a cohort of 237 seniors to an incredible 1,373 college acceptances across the UC and CSU systems and beyond.
Whether you’re an educator, counselor, parent, or student, I think you’ll come away reminded that while admissions can feel impossibly complex, changing a student’s life often starts with something beautifully simple: one person taking the time to invest in another. Let’s get into it.
We hope you enjoy.
Play-by-Play
- 3:52 – What is David’s background?
- 4:59 – What inspired David to change his career plans and become a public school teacher?
- 7:50 – How did David build and fund a brand-new student support program from scratch?
- 13:30 – How has the program expanded across the school district over the years?
- 14:41 – Why did the team design their student framework to focus on long-term life fulfillment rather than just getting into college?
- 16:52 – How can a dedicated mentor completely change the academic trajectory of a struggling student?
- 20:46 – What words of encouragement does David offer to educators who are feeling overwhelmed or losing faith in their work?
- 25:25 – How did David turn online writing exercises into a structured summer essay curriculum for his students?
- 32:20 – What are the college acceptance statistics for the bootcamp students?
- 34:51 – How does David help his students continue their college application journeys independently after the summer workshop ends?
- 35:33 – Tom shares his own background story of how he first started working with College Essay Guy
- 37:26 – How can strong student advocacy help an applicant’s unique story stand out during the review process?
- 38:23 – How can collaborations with local CBOs and college representatives help first-generation students access high-quality resources?
- 43:16 – What are the biggest cultural and mindset shifts required to help students navigate the college application process more effectively?
- 44:25 – How can schools guide first-generation families on college and class choices as early as possible?
- 49:19 – How can counselors help students highlight collaboration and teamwork on their applications?
- 50:42 – What are the practical logistics and daily structure of David’s student bootcamp?
- 58:03 – How can schools leverage real admissions officers and guest experts to inspire and guide applicants?
- 1:01:39 – What has David learned over the years from putting together his program?
- 1:05:56 – Closing thoughts and advice for counselors
Resources
- CEG’s College Admission Nutrients (aka The Great College Application Test)
- Paying for College in Four Steps
- College Essay Guy’s Values Exercise
- College Essay Guy’s Essence Objects Exercise
- College Essay Guy’s 21 Details Exercise
- College Essay Essentials
- The Matchlighters Scholars Program
- College Essay Guy’s Supplemental Essay Guides
- College Essay Guy’s Personal Statement Resources
- College Essay Guy’s College Application Hub
Show transcript
Tom Campbell (00:08) Hey there and welcome back to the College Essay Guy Podcast. I'm Tom Campbell, a former admission officer and now a college counselor and content creator here at CEG. Every so often, this podcast reminds me that beneath the essays, the deadlines, and the color-coded college lists, this whole thing is really about people. And today's guest is Exhibit A. Quick disclaimer: this is a feel-good episode, very this American life. If you've ever needed your faith in public education restored, cancel your other plans. And in a content landscape where some of the loudest admission experts run on rage bait and loose credentials, my guest is completely the opposite. And his name is David Shaw. David wouldn't say it out loud, but he's kind of a big deal. 27 years in the classroom and last year's recipient of the Mayor of Downey's Outstanding Citizen Award. He's also behind one of the most quietly jaw-dropping college prep success stories I've ever heard of. Bears University Seminar, which is a summer college essay and application boot camp for students at Warren High School, started in 2019 as six Saturdays in the school library with 110 seniors. This year's class, 237 seniors walking out the door with 1,373 college acceptances from the UCs, CSUs, and beyond. And the AVID program that he launched back in 01 with a single classroom of 30 kids. Now serves closer to 600, roughly one in six students at Warren, and has gone district wide all the way down to elementary schools. Is the bus still running? Sure is. Faster and further than ever. And in this episode, I finally sit down with David, and I mean finally, after more plates of Korean barbecue and hot pot than either of us care to admit on record, and we get into a few key things. David's five-minute life story, how as a kid from Koreatown, one youth pastor's quiet act of grace. And a hard left turn away from a communications career set David on the path to public education. What possessed him to build the Avid program from absolute scratch back in 01? The 4:30 a.m. Saturdays and the naysayers who told his first gen kids they didn't belong? Spoiler, they're now working as doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, and much more. So jokes on them. What Bus looks like in 2026 versus its origins, and how he had a team of committed educators that actually developed and refined it alongside him. Which college essay guy resources have quietly become game changers inside bus? Yes, including the 250 copies of college essay essentials he bought as gifts for last year's graduates. And is hard-won advice for any public school educator trying to build a college-going culture against very insurmountable odds. and at one point, David volunteers his own SAT score to all of our listeners, so I'll let him tell you that little nugget on his own. Whether you're an educator, a counselor, a parent, or even a student, I think you'll come away reminded that while admissions can feel impossibly complex, changing a student's life often starts with something beautifully simple. One person taking the time to invest in another. Let's get into it. David Chaw, welcome to the College SAI podcast. I can't believe it's it's finally happening, years in the making. Many, many hot pot Korean barbecue bites later. This is happening. Yeah. David Cha (03:33) Hey Tom, it's good to see you, man. Thank you so much for having me. I'm honored. Tom Campbell (03:37) We are honored. Seriously. Yeah. You are a a real, real gem in this, in this profession. And I'm so excited that our listeners get to hear a little bit more about you and your your backstory and your journey to this role that you're in and how you've been able to really kind of like transform your college going culture at Warren. So it really is amazing. And yeah, so so glad you've been willing to share the story with with the masses. David Cha (04:02) I'm honored to be here and I'm an open book. So ask a Tom Campbell (04:05) Love that. All right. Well, speaking of open books, I'd love to just dive in a little bit. just my why don't you just mind starting off telling folks, you know, who you are, your job, and then I'd love to get a little bit more of that backstory too, into how that came to be. I know I believe Today is your twenty sev twenty seventh anniversary. David Cha (04:26) I just wrapped up my twenty seventh year in public education today. Yes. Wow. Tom Campbell (04:30) yeah. That's i astounding. And as the son of a public school teacher, my mom, shout out to Julie Campbell. David Cha (04:40) Thank you for Tom. Tom Campbell (04:42) my god, she's the best. And she's been a teacher for probably right around there too. I'd say twenty something years. And so I know it's not easy. It is not not easy at all. Yeah. So really, really yeah. You're you're in the trenches. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about yeah, your role, what you do. David Cha (04:59) I grew up inner city. I grew up in Koreatown since I was ten years old. I'm an immigrant myself. And so my parents worked very low wage jobs. You know, my my mom worked in the restaurant as a cook. Dad was a butcher. Grew up inner city, product of L Unified. And to make the long story short, you know, that inner city lifestyle has a certain culture that comes with it. And and to make the long yeah, like to make the long story short, my brother was a gang leader. In LA. And I was in the gang with him, but I kind of got out early and to make the, you know, like, and then we kind of went on different ways. And then by my freshman, sophomore year in college, my brother was getting in more and more in trouble with the law. And he was hit with eight years. He ended up serving nine. And I was in San Diego at the time, so I couldn't come home and help my mom in any way when he was being tried. But there was a youth pastor who drove my mom to go see. My brother being tried for a couple of months before he was sentenced. And I had no idea who this man really was, but he showed such kindness and compassion for my family. When I saw him drive my mom to the courthouses, hold my mom when she would cry, and bring her home back again, again and again, that's when I understood what grace was. And that's when I realized I want to live a life where I can do that for other young people in life. And so at that time I was a communications major in college because I had written an article for LA Times when I was 18 years old. It was published. And Good Morning America did a show on my me and my brother twice. And so I had this whole route route of going towards communications major as a 19 year old. But when I saw what that youth pastor did for me, I realized I don't want to live a life where it says, look at me, look how successful I am. I wanted to live a life that gives to young people freely. And make an impact in their lives. And so that's when I decided to become a a teacher. And since I love history, I love history, wanted to work with young people, let's be a teacher. And so that's when when I graduated UC San Diego, I went to San Diego State for my teaching credential and I student taught at Crawford High in San Diego, which is a very impoverished neighborhood. In in in Elkah and Fifty Fourth, I still remember that neighborhood. And it was a very impoverished neighborhood. It wasn't even a school of immigrants, Tom. It was a school of refugees. And so half the school came from West Africa. Half the other half came from Southeast Asia. So you have like Cambodians and Hmongs and Vietnamese from Southeast Asia. And then you got, you know, these kids. I still remember this one kid named Mohammed that I was helping him with his college applications. He said he came from a family of 10, but yet his family income was 10,000 a year. And I was like, wow. You know, like. And so I saw like what the low-income students dealt with, you know. Now at that school is when I learned about the Avid program. It wasn't a big program, but it was a very well-known program. And so as a student teacher, as I was doing my teaching and coaching sports, I volunteered as an avid tutor. And so that's how I became familiar with the Avid program. Because Avid is pretty big in San Diego. It's big in LA now, too, but it's really big in San Diego because it's originated in San Diego. And so in my third year at Warren High School, I decided to start the Avid program at Warren High. Now, when I started the Avid program at Warren High School, if anyone that's watching this right now knows anything about starting something at a school that has no idea what the program is about, and you have to do all the hard work to start things, you would feel my pain. No one in my school knew about the avid program. And one of the avid program's strengths is the college tutors. Because you bring the college tutors in twice a week to offer academic support to the Avid students. I have no money to hire college tutors. And so my assistant principal pulled me aside and said, David, there's an opportunity for you to make money. Now, this is the second year of the Avid program. Program struggling because I have no tutors. And so I needed to raise money. And he said, But you got to come in on Saturdays once a month from 4:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and proctor. These C Best and Rika testing, because those are the tests that teachers take to become teachers. And they run like 30 classrooms at a time. But so I had to go to school at 4 30 a.m., stay till 7 30 at night once a month for the full year and set up classrooms, rearrange classrooms, clean out the classrooms with like a handful of student volunteers that would show for an hour or two at max. And it was the most Humbling experience of starting something like that from nothing, you know? Yeah. So janitors got paid overtime. I didn't get paid anything. However, we were able to start to generate revenue that way. And we fundraised like that for about 10 years straight. And so I had to do that on my own for about two to three years, every month, sometimes twice a month. But every classroom that we used was ninety dollars. So if I use thirty classrooms, it was twenty seven hundred dollars. Plus the parking lot, so it came out to about three grand per Saturday. I did it ten times a year, then it comes out to about thirty grand a year. And so I had to that's how I generated money to pay for the avid tutors. Eventually more teachers joined in because they saw what the program was about and they wanted to be a part of it. And so it was very humbling. I remember second year of the program. You know, people are telling me the program's not gonna work, David. I have people who who did not like the program because they didn't like seeing my avid kids, these first gen low income kids in their AP classes. They would literally tell my kids, you don't belong here. Yep. And my kids would cry to me, Mr. Child, like, what do I do? Now, what can I do as a young teacher with no credibility? I just told the kids, guys, you will always run into people like that, but you have to show them through your action. And the and your result that you belong there. And so I couple kids that cried to me, you know, during lunchtime, during snack, or in class. But I tell you what, the very first kid that told me that so and so said I don't belong in his class, and he cried to me. She graduated from UC Riverside in three years and a quarter with honors. Now she's a a youth specialist working with foster care in Orange County. Tom Campbell (11:30) Wow. Wow. David Cha (11:36) And and I and like I have another student who was in the same case. I remember her crying to me because so and so said this to me in class. She's now a teacher, making sure that that kind of mindset no longer continues, you know. And and and and yeah, now I have doctors, lawyers, you know, like teachers, everything. So like now people can't say jack squad. Tom Campbell (11:58) Yeah. Do you have the do you have the receipts? You got the receipts? Yes. Well now. David Cha (12:01) See. Yeah. And so that's how Avid got its start. It was very humbling, but it it it really taught me what it what it takes to change of culture. Yeah, it's one thing to establish a system, but changing culture takes hard work. Yeah. One of the most humbling things for me was my own SAT score when I was in high school, and I'm I'm gonna admit this publicly in front of the whole millions of people watching is was ten sixty. Tom Campbell (12:17) Yeah. David Cha (12:34) I'm the highest score. Again, I'm first gen low income. I didn't really have too much support in that. However, when it came to my advocates, I had to learn SAT again. Because somebody had to teach it to them. I I didn't have anybody teaching it to them. So I had to learn it. And there was a gentleman I remember through Turnstone Review, who Paul Kanarak, who was just very generous and he taught me and some other teachers about the SAT. So I learned SAT from him and his teachers, and I taught it to my advocates. Now, Tom, my SAT was 1060. But I work with my advocates when in their junior year. I still remember working from 330 to 6 twice a week for like six weeks prior to the SAT. But we spent all those evenings together leading up to the SAT. And then some of my kids got 1200, 1300, and like and it was off the charts, you know? And so like, and so like those kids got into like, you know, like UCSD, Irvine, like, you know, Riverside, whatever. And and that's how the the the the Avid program started to blossom slowly. And then my colleagues that joined, they just really supported me and helped me, took some of the responsibilities off from my shoulders because I was literally doing everything. And it was burning me out. But now we're at a place now in 2026. We just had our 22nd graduating class. And we are close to 600 students now at our school alone. But now the program is even district wide. So both high schools have it, all the middle schools have it, some elementary schools have it. And for me, having been a part of that journal the starting point in our district. The happiest moment in my lifetime is when I see some random kid in our city wearing an avid shirt and I have no idea who that kid is. But I tell myself and I'm looking at the kid, he's going to college. He's going places in life. You know, and that makes me so happy when I see that kid just walking down the street. And and it's yeah, that brings me so much joy. Tom Campbell (14:41) I love there's I mean, there's so much so much to impact with what you just shared. I remember when I first heard about your upbringing and that piece of kind of that motivation behind meeting this pastor, seeing having that kind of like light bulb moment, essentially, that like epiphany of like like a catalyst, a spark in in a shift in a trajectory in your life. And interestingly enough, you know, we're we've been talking a lot about the admission nutrients at college essay guy. Yes. I know y thank you for complimenting my my food group. We love our food. I love it. That makes me so happy to hear. But you know, what's funny is that we were very intentional actually when we were trying to put these together that we didn't want the qualities to just be about getting into college. Yeah. So a big part of the research behind them was like we also looked into what do what are employers looking for as well. And what leads to like a fulfilling, gratifying life. Uh-huh. Because Ethan Ethan was very big on that, which is not surprising to anyone who knows him. Right. Right. And so even listening to your story of committing yourself to a life of public service through public education, starting the Abbott program from the ground up. But what your life story and what and what you put have put together is actually it mirrors the admission nutrients in many ways, right? And you know, having something that you're consistently engaging in and not stepping away from, taking leadership and initiative to notice a problem in your community and actually proposing ideas of how to solve it, service to others. That goes without saying, right? Collaboration, slowly but surely collaborating with different people to help make the program what it what it is, and bringing in people with different perspectives and backgrounds to do that. So, and intellectual curiosity, of course, is the fifth rounding out the five. The curiosity of how can I beat the odds of an education system that is so inequitable and give these kids a shot that they deserve and empower them to do that. And speaking of David Cha (16:51) Equity Tom. Speaking of equity, just one one more story I need to mention too is when I was a freshman in college and I was really struggling because my roommates and my friends were all from Orange County or from the Valley. You know, they grew up in a nice neighborhood. They had all the basics and foundations. I grew up in inner city and and like I didn't have much like sound education. Now that as I look at it through the eyes of an educator, but my freshman year, I had this one African American professor, and he really saw the potential in me. And he saw me struggle with my writing because my writing was my my forte, but he saw the potential in me. And he saw, and he later told me that I brought enthusiasm to his class. And so he sat with me and he and he worked with me throughout the entire freshman year. He showed me how to put one paragraph after another. After his tutelage, my freshman year, was the last time I got a C in anything. It was all A's and B's, more A's than B's. It threw out my undergrad, my teaching credential, my first master's, and my second master's, no cease, because of his tutelage in my life. And then later I found out he was actually admitted to college because of affirmative action, because he didn't have the GPA. But he got in through the affirmative action and then his life changed as he as he took on that journey through academics, you know? And so, like when I ran into him accidentally, 20 years later at Cal State Monterey Bay, like I saw him sitting there at Starbucks. Teaching a freshman who just failed our paper. And like I looked at him and he saw me and we just recognized each other. And it was such a remarkable reunion. And it was not planned. It was an avid road trip. We do we're taking our kids into trips. And we just happened to run into him, but he remembered my full name. And then we ended up having dinner together a couple months later. And so I just wanted to just share that. That's where I learned the power of education from his investment in my life, you know. And then and then I told them I told I stopped the whole tour of the advocate and I said, Dr. Bertot, you see all these advocaces is because of what you did in my life. Yeah. And then all the teachers were crying in the back and the sister principal was crying. But it's true. You know, it is so true. Tom Campbell (19:06) I think when you show people that ripple effect of, and you even have been doing it with me, like, you know, before we officially hit record on this call, you were really taking the time to let myself and everyone at the College SI team know that, like, you know, the ripple effect of the exercises and resources, the advice that we're trying to put out there, getting in the hands of counselors like yours, like you, disseminating it to hundreds and hundreds students, that is something that. Isn't always going to show up in like a report or your internal numbers or anything like that, but is happening. And I think stopping and pausing to let people know that, especially at a time when right now it's goes without saying it's really tough working in any industry. It's it's it's just tough like existing as a human right now in this era of ambiguity with AI. And, you know, there's even so many students who are questioning the value of going to college, right? And which is a huge shift culturally from You know, what both you and I have grown up knowing and realizing and that that message of college being that springboard is is really coming into question right now. So I just really I appreciate this conversation so much because I feel like it's coming at a time when many educators are losing faith, you know, and what like what am I doing? You know, I'm up against, you know, attention spans that are really tough to crack right now and no budget and It just seems like everything is kind of working against the work that I came in, like the intention behind why I wanted to go into this job in the first place. So I don't know if maybe you could even just more pointedly offer some words of encouragement to the counselors, the educators who are listening to this who may be feeling that struggle a bit. I I think that that would that would go a long way. David Cha (20:46) Sure. I mean, if you are just starting your education journey in your twenties or maybe thirties, I mean it it's it's the the the the lessons aren't new. I mean, you just have to embrace the fact that if you want to be part of a culture changing work, it's going to be hard. Yeah. You have to embrace that. AI is not what woke me up four in the morning to go pick up trash in the bathrooms to raise money for Avid. You know, AI is not what you know got me to relearn SAT, not for my sake, but for the sake of others. You know, like I feel like we are living in a time where everything has become there's so much emphasis on efficiency and productivity, but certain things cannot be rushed. You can't rush a good wine. Not that I'm much of a wine drunker or anything, but you think it's gotta age well. Yeah. And so certain things need to have its It's it's it's much investments mature, but it will pay in due time, but you have to persevere. And if I can tell my younger self something, I would say don't do it alone. Because I have that immigrant mindset. And when you're an immigrant, Tom, like you know, like see, you know, seeing in my mom and my dad, like their mindset is, you know, like even if I'm hurt or or sick, I have to go to work because my family doesn't get to eat. And so, like their mindset is I have to do it myself, or my family's not gonna be able to afford this and that. You know, that's the immigrant mindset. But like in it, but in this especially the context of education, there's so many people who have similar intention and heart and spirit. They're willing to jump in there with you if you ask them, if you show them. But for me, I was kind of tunnel vision at first, but I gotta make this happen because this is the program that I started, you know, and I don't want to let it fall. And disappoint these kids. And so, but I I wish I had opened my arms more and reached out to my colleagues earlier than I did before. And so that's my my my encouragement to those who are watching. Embrace the fact that it's gonna be hard, but find others who are like-minded and then turn out the all the noise because there will be naysayers, and then fight for what you are fighting for. And and and I gotta tell you, I'm not trying to sound all noble here, but the thing that kept me going, fighting one battle after another. was the fact that I made a promise to those kids in the first day of their freshman year in my avid class, if you stay here, I'm gonna help you go to college. And I did not want to disappoint them. That was what kept me fighting a battle after another. And and and I'm thankful that with all the support and and and help I was able to deliver on that promise. And and you mentioned something while you were sharing, you know, Alex, how it could be very easy to get jaded right now in 2026. Yep. Huh? That's the reason why I appreciate everything that Ethan Sawyer, you and Hannah, and everyone else is doing a college essay guy. Let me kind of share with you a little bit how my journey with college essay gonna go. Okay. Yeah. And so for me, I like I realized as I was working with my avid seniors, writing college essays took a long time. Yeah. I'm like, dude, just how many mornings do I have to like? make reservations for my kids, you know, like I gotta go in like an hour earlier to meet with my students and then meet with them during lunchtime and sometimes meet with them during after school. And I'm like, there's not enough minutes in a day to get this done. And so I started to, you know, I told my school, I'm like, hey, let me create a class in the summer just for my average students, just so I could help these kids finish their college essays in the summer. And then I started to see that actually gave them an advantage. I had no idea when I did this that usually the people who hired college essay consultants, that was their normal practice. I had no idea. I just said I need to do a summer class with my advocates because this is the only way we're gonna get all the essays done. So I started to do that, and then I saw the fruits of the labor. And then I started to think, huh, you know, Avid is benefiting from this model, but I think I could go bigger. So in 2019 is when, by the way. And then I started to look up online for like college essay, like you know, resources. And that's when I came across Ethan Sawyer's material. Cause unlike others, other many other companies that kind of said, you know, they want to, I mean, it's it's a business, like you know, in a way, right? And so like they're trying to like, you know, like share but not share. But Ethan Sawyer was the one person who had this compassionate view about college admissions. And his thing was, I want to give access to every kid who wants to go to college. And so, and so I came across his exercises, like the values exercise, the essence object, you know, like 21 things that need to know. So many exercises that were so easy to use. So I started to make slides out of his lessons and then teach it to my advocates in the summer. And I was like, these are this is doable, you know, and I'm not the smartest educator, but this is totally doable for my kids and for me. And so that's when I decided to like open it up to the greater school and then have college essay guy come into our school and then teach it to our students. And so in 2019, in the fall, this that year we did it in person on Saturdays. And so we were able to serve about 110 kids and we broke the students into three groups. And they came in and and Hannah came in and then and and and instructed. And there was another young lady who came in and instructed. And I and I saw the The instruction was much more fruitful because it was in person. She was able to teach with more authority. And we saw what he can do. And so I was like, okay, this is going well. And and I remember I was very proud of the all the work that the teachers were doing with the students. And these kids who are not even in Avid with the Avid students sitting together, just really, you know, narrowing down their PIQs. And then COVID hit. Tom Campbell (26:55) Yeah. David Cha (26:56) Holy cow. I still remember mid-March of 20th. It was not a fun time. But I remember when I was going through it like everyone else, I knew the class of 2021 was gonna hurt. Right. And so I asked my principal, I said, Dr. White, or it was it, it was it was Mr. Harris at the time. I I said, let me do this in the summer through Zoom. Tom Campbell (27:01) Yeah. David Cha (27:24) Because if it was gonna go through Zoom, let me just do this in the Zoom. And so we had all the kids signed up. And that's when we switched the mode from doing it in the fall to summer through Zoom. Now, my school and the district did not understand what I was trying to do. Kind of like when I started Abbott. Didn't really understand what I was trying to do. Like make it work and then show them. But that year, Tom, okay, you've done college essays for a long time. So you would appreciate this. Tom Campbell (27:44) Sure. David Cha (27:54) We didn't have enough resources or budget to do it the way I wanted to do it. So our weekly sessions, and we only met five times to get the PIQs done, were 15 minutes long. Usually the independent independent education consultants, IEC is with me for about an hour, right? Yeah. We met with our kids 15 minutes that summer each week for five to six weeks to get their PIQs done. We were exhausted, as you can imagine. That school year. Tom Campbell (28:28) Especially when you're like rotating from one to the next and you're like your eyes are going constantly like what David Cha (28:32) Yeah. I remember that was the only school year where I had two kidney stones. I haven't had one. I never had kidney stones afterwards, but that year I had two kidney stones because I was working with my advocates and I was going to like 11, 12 at night because I'm gonna help these kids get in. You know, and so I'm staying up helping them get because cause I'm telling these kids, this virus is not gonna get you. You know, you're going somewhere, I don't care. Tom Campbell (28:37) Wealthy God. David Cha (29:00) What the effect of the virus is, you are in this program, but we're gonna help you, you know? And and and and unfortunately, all the bus team teachers that that work and serve in our program right now, they are like that. They have that kind of we're not gonna just we're not gonna lose our kids mindset, you know. These are tough, tough teachers. I so I intentionally choose teachers to be part of the bus program who are compassionate, but also who are tough, you know, like they They are not going to lose these kids, you know, because because their heart is filled with so much love that it's going to go chase after these kids, you know? And so, man, I remember that year. And even though it was tough, we did it. Results were good. So the program just started, kept growing steadily. And so we started with 110 in the fall of 2019. And then this summer, right now, and we're starting bus this coming Monday, we have little less than 260 students signed up. And they're all like registered and ready to go. You know? And when I look at the history of where we are today and how college essay guy has played a role in that, we're just so thankful because I mean you guys are so generous with your resources. I don't know any other company that intentionally serves those kids who are first gen low income and marginalized. Like, you know, like when I hear other people talk about, my low income student, my low income student, one thing I notice is they're always Singular low-income student. It's not plural. You know, but but college essay guy had this program. You guys have this program called Match Sliders Program. And I have advocates who have taken advantage of your match sliders program. And so and so, like, you know, last year we had a student who worked with a match slider sponsor, and then she also worked with our avid student. She's right now a Wellesley, and she had pretty much all of it, like all paid for. And she was one of those go-getters who knows how to, you know, like take advantage of resources. And she did it. This year I had a kid who did match sliders program. She got into a lot of good liberal arts schools. And right now she's on her way to Berkeley. And so, like, and like the fact that you guys have, I think this year you guys gonna have close to eight, nine hundred spot match slider sponsors to help the first gen low-income kids with essay support. Yeah is it really tells me the heartbeat of The leadership of college essay guy. You know, like you guys long to help students who have that desire, and you guys are not gonna turn anyone away. Like, as long as I've worked with college essay guy, that has been your philosophy. I feel like that's the that's the the heartbeat of Ethan Sawyer, as well as you and Hannah and everyone in the leadership. And I can't thank you guys enough because you guys have made such impact. I mean, I don't know if you guys And I don't know if I could quote the the the stat for this year's bus class that we just did, but I mean I don't even know, but our social media teacher kind of hosted this on our on our school social media account because it was kind of cool. It was kind of big deal. So this year's bus class, well or the one that just graduated, class 2026. Let me give you some stats of what doing the Bears University seminar. Tom Campbell (31:55) Please do. Yeah. David Cha (32:20) In partnership with college SAI has done for our students. My principal loves it so much. She calls it the mic drop moment of the year. And so we had we served 237 students this past year in the summer of 2025. So it's class of 2026. Between 237 bus students, we had 504 UC acceptances. Out of the 237 bus students, 157 were first gen. Tom Campbell (32:41) Wow. Wow. David Cha (32:50) So let me go school by school. I wish I can show you the slide. UC Berkeley, 26 acceptances. UCLA, 21 acceptances. UC San Diego, 53 acceptances. UC Davis, 41 acceptances. UC Irvine, 50 acceptances. UC Merced, 81. Riverside, 124. UC Santa Barbara, thirty five, UC Santa Cruz, seventy three. And so I have like other districts and schools reaching out to me saying, What are you guys doing? Tom Campbell (33:33) What's in the water? David Cha (33:34) Yeah, like what what are you drinking? So yeah. And so I mean and and if you only knew their stories, you know, but like you know, some of these students like they don't even have a place where they can sit quietly to zoom with us. So I remember this one girl, she was literally zooming with me in front of her her laundry machine as it's like spinning in the background. I don't know that who was zooming with me from the bathroom because that was the only place where she can find some solids. And Tom Campbell (34:04) Yep. David Cha (34:06) And that that girl working from in the bathroom, you know, she's going to UCLA. You know, like just incredible young people going to grade schools because of the partnership that Warren High School has with College SA Guy. And man, we are so thankful. We are so thankful for everything that you guys have done in helping our students, just the resources that you make available to our students. You know, this year's class, class of twenty twenty seven. You know, we're gonna start this coming Monday. You know, when they finish the bus program on July seventeenth, the Friday, as a gift, I'm gonna give them college essay essentials written by Tom Campbell (34:47) Yes. Yes, yes. Yeah. David Cha (34:51) Because you know, like once the five week five meetings are done, like you know, we're done. But here's something for you to continue your journey. And yeah, even the fact that our students will have that online resources to college essay guy even after they're done, you know, for the whole year of their senior year, all the resources that they need to see. If they're gonna apply to private schools, they'll have all those supplementary questionnaires ready, you know, on the website. And and even finances, because they don't know how to talk about finances with your parents. Yeah, great resources. Tom Campbell (35:19) You know? Yeah. David Cha (35:21) On finances, on on Tom Campbell (35:24) Yeah, not everyone knows that either, because you we're college essay guy, right? So like someone David Cha (35:28) Your stuff with financial aid is really, really good. Thank you. Yeah. Tom Campbell (35:33) Yeah, that's one thing that I really part of me coming in, you know, my college SAI origin story actually. I it was the podcast. I don't know if you know this, but I first met Ethan. I actually met him when I was working in admissions at Pomona. I was doing a session at downtown Magnus High School. Shout out to Linda McGee, longtime counselor there, who just retired from there, who has been such an amazing, you know, speaking of people who kind of like go into a community and shift a culture. She absolutely is that person. And She's such an inspiring educator. And so she put together her like intro to college night. And the keynote speaker was Ethan Sawyer. And I knew had no idea who he was, you know, as an as an admission officer. But then I learned, you know, I read the write-up in the program that they have for him. And I was like, wow, in the cafeteria, you know, they like wheeled in the little like lecture cart for his like PowerPoint. And it just everything about it kind of just spoke to, you know, this is a school, you know, that it doesn't have is not flush clat. Cash flush with resources. And here's this person who's coming in who's written books about this topic, who like really wants to be here in this space for free to share this information with families. So I was just very inspired by him just from that interaction alone. And then when I was reading applications at Pomona, my last admission cycle, I was reading applications from the African continent. So various countries. There's a student from Ethiopia who applied named Keto. Who his story was absolutely amazing. And I was like reading through the application, and there was just there were some missing pieces kind of in terms of context that like, you know, I just kind of basically I needed to follow up with someone in the application to be like, hey, I just have a few follow-up questions about this student. And Ethan was one of the contacts in the file because he this student was a match letter scholar. yeah, that's wrong. So I zoomed with Ethan. This was during the pandemic. David Cha (37:20) No Tom Campbell (37:26) Sing with Ethan and we just started talking and just connecting. And you know, I I told him how amazing Keto's story was. He did end up getting accepted in the end. And that was in huge part because of Ethan's advocacy. And he went in being like, This kid is no joke. He, you know, part of his essay, I think, was about him. Like he lives in a rural part of Ethiopia. I want to say on the border with Sudan. Uh-huh. And he would go like take multiple buses hours and hours away to Addis Ababa, the capital. To go into sessions when admission officers from US countries would come and travel. That's the only places they would go. And it's rare that they go there at all, right? So, but he literally made the time to go hours and hours, like days to go and hear from these admissions reps to get that insight and to f further himself forward. And now he actually is doing, he does part-time work with us at Colodesta Guy. So he went to Planet. Yeah. So yeah, I yeah. David Cha (38:23) If I could just add because you're talking about Ethan and his advocates, there's something else I want to highlight. So when I was so my first run with the SATs was when I was taught by Prince of Review and taught my first set of kids. But over the years, we needed to find support for SAT elsewhere. And I reached out to a very prestigious test prep company called Leet. And like everyone, I mean, if you know, you know. Like you ask all the top high school kids in SoCal where they go for SAT, they go to Elite. And I didn't know this until later, but Ethan was the college essay person, one of the one of the college essay essay consultants at Elite. And then while he was there, he was able to start a program called Community Scholars Program. And what that is, is Elite reaching out to first gen low-income students. And teaching SATs for free in those high schools that are underserved. Because of Ethan's advocacy for the first gen low-income kids while he was working at Elite, Elite served so many high schools offering SAT support to first gen low income students. And because of that, I was able to ask Elite for support and they generously agreed to come in and teach my advocates for free of charge. And these are about 80, 90 kids at a time. twice a year. And and because of their support, we were able to raise our kids' SAT scores. This is pr prior to the pandemic, and we were able to say able to send them to good colleges. And so his advocacy, everyone that's watching this webinar, I want you to know Ethan Sawyer and the college essay guy and these folks in leadership like Tom and Hannah and everyone, they're the real deal. Like they help people because this is what matters to them. And I've seen and I've been the recipient, humble recipient of their good graces over the years. And I can't thank them enough. Everyone that I've come across in this journey of helping first and low-income students, but man. Ethan's reach is just wide. And and and he's done so much work on our in my students' lives, whether he knows it or not, you know? And so I'm just so thankful for his work wherever he he did it and and the the work that he's still doing and his advocacy for those students who are in my students' shoes, just trailblazing in their own families. So I just want to share that because not many people know that part of Ethan's story. But what he did in opening up that that that well of water for first and low income kids through community scholars program at Elite has ch impacted so many, easily thousands, if not tens of thousands, because they've done it for so long. And that work it's it needs to go mentioned, it needs to be mentioned because it's changed lives, man. I'm just so thankful. Tom Campbell (41:40) What I really appreciate about this conversation and you spotlighting this is that Ethan recorded a podcast with Sandy, who was with the company for a very long time. So so awesome. And the title of it was Authoring Your Life. And I think something that is is such a big part of college essay guy is like the power of storytelling. Yeah. And, you know, his, of course, own background in screenwriting having influenced a lot of, you know. way that stories move us as human beings. And I think what this is a good reminder to all of us of like, and and you touched on this as well, David, like how we're moving increasingly towards this culture of efficiency. And many people are not willing to listen through a podcast that's even an hour long or can't listen to it at normal speed. It has to be 1.5. And we're just increasingly, I feel like as a society, not taking the time as much to like really learn people's stories versus a fact sheet or a summary. And I like that what Eth Ethan, I mean, while he was working in test prep, like that was the side of the process that like there wasn't really anything that Elite was doing along these lines. And so he was really the one who kind of like built up the vision for how to get students to share their story in a way that is true to themselves, but also allows colleges to get valuable information that they need to make cases for students. And I think, yeah, that the piece of communicating your story, knowing what parts To hit kind of how to show through your story your forward momentum is just really at the heart of what we're trying to do here. And kind of brings me to my next question, actually, which is thinking about kind of like reflecting, you know, over 20 years of putting both the Avid program and the bus program on the map. What would you say is some of like, Thinking back to your own story and your shifts and how you learn about how college admissions really works and what it does take to be a competitive applicant, a lot of that involves in shifting a culture, is a mindset shift or insights about, you know, how can I actually get these students to know how to go through the college process smarter, not harder. So thinking about that, are there what are some of the biggest, I guess, like shifts and or light bulb moments in your story of putting this together that you feel like counselors listening into this should know in terms of to all those counselors were like, what's in the water, right? How are you having the success? What would you say have been some of the biggest shifts in like culture around applying to college that you have ushered in or learned about through college SAI or MACAC or WACEC or, you know, all these other ways to learn more about how this process actually works? David Cha (44:25) I think the more most important thing, one of the more important things is you need to start as early as possible. And and and and I think this is where the whole issue of equity comes in, right? I mean, I mean, if you come from a wealthy family, you could afford to hire like you could you could hire services that will get your kid ready. But for my students who are first gen low incomes, their parents don't have this kind of knowledge. And it's that's where I think the schools need to come in and empower and ready the students as well as the families. And so I feel like that knowledge, whether it's through Avid or something like Bus, you know, where wherever your school may be, you need to start educating kids early. Like if you just come to me in your junior year and say, This is who I am, like there really isn't much that I can do with you. But if you are to ready the kids, let's say, ideally, Tom, at the end of eighth grade, let's say there's a vertical articulation between the high school and the middle school, and you are educating these kids and say, hey, look, if you want to go into STEM, then ideally you want to be an AP Calc. To get to that point, here are the classes you need to take. Let's get geometry out of the way before the ninth grade. So you could go into honors algebra two in your freshman year. You know, stuff like that, you don't know unless you're in that world. You know, like you don't know. And so There's gotta be at least one or two people at the schools that know this stuff. And then, and then, and then they have to have that channel of communication with people in the college and career center or whatever, or counselors, so that there's a wide communication of this kind of information that's made available. And so that's something that my principal and I have been working on, and we're starting to have a growing conversation regarding those things so that we can. educate and empower our families and and students earlier, you know. But I all but that's where the issue of equity really needs to be addressed. You know? Like we throw the word equity around so much in in today's society, but I feel like one of the biggest areas of inequity is education. And and it it really does have to deal with social economics. So and so if you're gonna lift these kids out of where they are and take them to the higher place. Tom Campbell (46:53) Yeah, yeah. David Cha (47:00) And give them the opportunity or the chance to be successful, then someone at the school should know all this stuff. Yeah. But knowing all this stuff isn't it takes research. It takes, like you just said, it takes listening to the entire hour long podcast, not just 15 seconds on like you know, Instagram Reels. Because you got to know the history behind some of these policies to understand why they're there. Tom Campbell (47:11) It takes time. Yeah. David Cha (47:26) And then if you understand the nature of certain practices, then you know how to combat it. And and and and you know, and so I I you know, if you're a school administrator or principal or or you know, at the district office, you're listening, please, you know, invest into few people at each school site who can be that kind of anchor person, you know, that the the people can lean on. Hey, what do you think about this scenario for this student? You know? And so like personally, right now I'm I'm cultivating more relationship with with teachers who are in charge of different programs right now. So my robotics teacher, who's an awesome, awesome teacher, he and I just started having more conversations about how can we better guide our students, you know? Because these kids are in robotics spending 30 hours a week, but yet how can we package them and and and and set them up for college application using their store, you know? And so so he and I are having this conversation more and more recently. And I want to have, you know, I'm trying to talk to the band director more as well. And so like. And so like the communications need to happen. But if the school leadership, the admin can recognize the need is there, then it becomes easier. Cause then the administration can, you know, find subtimes for you. You know, we'll we'll give you some staff development days. And then you could do what you want to do. You could go out and, you know, network, research, and do all this other stuff. And so I feel like that's like been my challenge that I feel like that could be more support. But at the same time, given the the current climate of lack of funding for education. Yeah, you know, like a lot of schools are just wrestling right now to make ends meet. They're trying to like retain people. That's their main goal. And so, but I feel like those of us who are in this world trying to help our kids get into colleges, even we as we are struggling with the external forces that we cannot control, this might be something that we can control and still offer to our students. At least that's what we're doing that at our school. Tom Campbell (49:19) Yeah. And I really, I mean, lately I've been talking about not to bring it back to the admission nutrients. I've been talking about like that. I feel like collaboration is kind of like I'm I'm trying to think of an analogy for I forget what I put it on the slide, but collaboration is one that I feel like it's when you look when I've been like we've been like auditing essentially like a lot of the applications of students that we've worked with to like see, is there evidence of these admission nutrients sprinkled throughout? application and and which ones are appearing more frequently. And of all of them, collaboration is the one that appears the least frequently in student applications. And we're trying to shift that trend. But I think what you're speaking to, especially around like administrators who know different teachers in the school and what each person is doing, they can sometimes be the spark plug or the kind of link to be like, hey, you two could actually come together and really create some even more magic than what you're doing in your own silos. And I think when administrators are able to identify those opportunities and help nudge those along and help facilitate the connection, it's a huge huge difference and a huge way that you can be a very, very effective leader. So the yeah, the collaboration piece is one that I I'm it sounds like at least in your growth of the program, that seems to be one of the bigger areas of like how it's the success has grown. David Cha (50:41) It's the unique keyboard. Tom Campbell (50:42) Yeah. And I I mean it's so amazing to see with the bus program. I know we were talking about like getting more involved with like, you know, having students maybe doing some like in person like job shadowing or help with kind of maybe companies in the local area because that's very similar to the Christo Ray model of education. So Crystal Ray schools have students working with companies as part of their education. And just seeing some of the speakers, you know, that have come to bus and presented to your students coming from different industries from the city. I think that thinking collaboratively that way. So not just, you know, who can I collaborate more with in my own school who's doing great work in their own area and orbit, but also outside the school walls, who's willing to come in and help inspire, motivate these students to let them know that there is a path forward and that there's not just one path forward. There's multiple different ways to do it. And that I feel like is a huge, huge piece of your your program that is a I I would imagine a huge part of the success is coming from that collaborative piece of it. Yeah. See speaking of the program, I do think it would be valuable for for listeners to just hear like, okay, we've been talking about the program, but like what does it actually look like? You know, the pragmatics, like how long does it run? What does what does the bus program David Cha (52:00) Bus we we call it the bus program at our school. It stands for Bears University Seminar. And so It's a college essay program that we run in the summers. We have an information night in the spring. And then we invite parents and students to come out and hey, this is what our program's about. And then there's a recruitment period when the juniors do the the scheduling registration for twelfth grade. The counselors kind of share with the students if you want to be part of the bus program, scan this QR code and then, you know, sign up. And and because we are working with Peak Performance Academy now, we they students have to take an additional course in addition to bus. So that's a new requirement starting this year. But to make a long story short, it's a five to six week college essay program that we have with our students. And so we they have to have three point all GPA or or higher because you know we're mainly targeting the UCs, but also some private schools. And so we have students that have three point GPA or higher register. And then we assign them to a teacher. There are seven of us now. I think we started with a three or four, but now there are seven of us. And every teacher gets anywhere between about 35 to 39 students each summer. And then we meet with them for about 40 minutes per week through Zoom. And then and then, you know, like we have them go through the college essay guys resources. And so The first thing that they complete is a student questionnaire. And so, you know, once they fill out the questionnaire, and then the bus teachers go into the document, identify all the potential PIQ topics so that when we meet for the first session, we identify the PIQ topics right away. So in our first 40-minute meeting, we're already narrowing down the topics for the PIQs. And then we spend next two to three weeks actually writing those PIQs. And then, you know, teachers look at it, comment on it, students revise it, teachers look at it again, comment on it again. And then students revise it. And then the last two weeks, you know, College SA guy comes back and teaches our students about the Common App essay. And so those students who are applying to private schools will now receive instruction on Common App essay. And then they start their draft on writing their Common App essay. The white the reason why we do UC PIQs first is because, well, mainly our students are applying for the UCs, but if they write four PIQs in three weeks, then there's enough material there between the four PIQs. To come up with a what Ethan Sorer calls super essay. And so it's easier to afford, you know, create that super essay when they write the common app essay. And so we you either use you know narrative or montage as we've been you know taught over many years in college SAI. I usually use narrative a lot, Tom, but man, I'm liking that montage more these days. And and so but yeah, by the end of the end of the five, six weeks, I could say literally most of our students have finished their PI cubes. Tom Campbell (54:31) Right so yeah. David Cha (54:57) And and the ratings, the review of the pro because we get them a survey at the end, are incredible. Like they see the value of it. And the fact that we have so many, especially first gen kids who are aspiring for bigger things, take advantage of this in the summer and and and and be honest enough to admit hey, this was summer well spent. That makes it worth it for us as educators. Tom Campbell (55:05) Mm. David Cha (55:25) You know, like these these teachers that I that I brought into the team, their fathers, their mothers, you know, they're they're their sisters and daughters and taking care of their children, you know. And and this is probably one of the most intense summer school classes we you could ever teach. Cause you are literally going from kid to kid to kid to kid. I mean, literally one kid is crying and you're going to another kid and that kid may cry, because you know, brainstorming sessions are intense at times, you know. And like and and but we gotta keep going. Because we got another kid to help, another kid to help. And so when 330 hits, we are exhausted. But we do this every year because it makes a difference. And this year, I mean the UC acceptances, holy cow. I mean, yeah. I mean this social media post I heard within 24 hours, like it got over 100,000 views or something. I I forgot what the teacher told me, but it was incredible. And and I just want everyone to know if you're in Southeast LA, you're looking for a school, Warren's where it's at. And if you bring the heart and the desire, we will help you go to college. Yeah. I mean, we are, we are, yeah. I'm just very thankful to be part of this journey because the teachers that I work with, they're so much smarter than me and sharper than me. And and and you know, I'm just an old man now. You know, I just hit 50, but just being able to still serve student population in this kind of way. It brings me much joy and it may it reminds me I chose the right career path. Tom Campbell (56:58) Yeah. David Cha (57:00) I'm just very grateful for this journey. Tom Campbell (57:02) Yeah. I I love hearing about the program and its intention and kind of like the emotional arc of it. And I I also love hearing about kind of like the practical, like what you just shared, I think about, and this is something that I've come to learn too, just in doing work with College Essa Guy, is the value of starting with PIQs if a student is applying to the UCs, which many students do, that and and using those responses to help. be the building blocks for the future essays down the line for other schools, super essays for private schools is a really, really great workflow. And in, you know, in the spirit of working smarter, not harder, that can really help a lot of students set them up for success by the time the fall comes around and they have quality, verifiable writing. You know, there's tweaks and changes you definitely need to make for it to make it palatable to other schools, because as maybe not everyone knows, the UCs kind of prefer a more direct writing style as opposed to, you know, More creativity that you can display for other schools. David Cha (58:03) And speaking of, you talk about collaboration. And so one other person that really helps me out for the bus program is Miss Iona Ni from UC Davis. She's an admissions counselor. She's been our guest speaker every year for like as long as bus has been around. And she actually shows students like what the UC admission officers are doing when they go through PIQs. So she shows them like, you know, like this is what we go through. This is a value added essay. This this didn't make, you know, make the cut. And and then she also comes back and you know goes through the entire UC application with my students. And so, you know, we talk about partnership and collaboration, right? And so, you know, like I reached out to her after I first saw her speak at a UC counselors conference one time and and and and she's been more than generous in making her time available, energy available. And so like I bring in everyone, Tom. Like I used to have like career guest speakers too. I had like a I had a I have a friend who's an engineering professor at MIT. So she did this whole thing on like stem cell. And then I have a friend who's like world renowned, like brain surgeon at Cedar Sinai in Beverly Hills. He literally showed a brain surgery on youth on Zoom to my students, and they loved it. Brain split open, and he's doing the surgery. And and kids are like this wide eyed, and they're like, I want to be a doctor. And so yeah, just bring in different elements to like get kids interested and motivated, you know? And so yeah, it's been a it's such a wonderful journey. Tom Campbell (59:12) You see like I think you're such a model for like reaching out and like just giving the ask and the like kind of this is something that students, you know, I don't know if any students are gonna listen to this podcast. I hope you do, but the worst thing that someone can say is either no or nothing. Yeah. That's it. Like there's nothing to lose by setting that out. And so for counselors, you know, when admission reps are coming and visiting your school and you're organizing those like college visits in the fall, you know, keep David Cha (59:45) Not the two. Tom Campbell (59:56) A contact list of all those emails from these reps and send out a message being like, Hey, here's an interest form. Like, I mean, we're trying to put together Zoom nights or you know, would you be willing to come and speak to our families? I don't know. I would do that. Like when schools invited me to do things, I loved doing that. And most of the time it wasn't paid. It was just something that I was doing in addition to my regular nine to five. And so you'd be surprised, you know, what can happen when you when you send out the call, call to adventure. If you will. The hero's journey, Joseph Campbell. David Cha (1:00:28) for sure. Tom Campbell (1:00:30) Another question I wanted to touch on just as as we kind of come to a close is, you know, benefit of reflection. And of course, students get that benefit through their essay writing process and like learn how valuable it can be. But I wanted just to take a moment to think about as you reflect back on the program and how it looks in 2026, I imagine very, very different than 01 or you know, when you first got started with any of these. But have there been any particular like Changes to the way you've mapped out the program that you feel like counselors, educators tuning in who are hoping to form something of their own in their own school that works with their calendar, their timeline. What advice would you give to people who want to put a program like this together? And what maybe like mistakes can you prevent them from stepping into based on like, one year we did this model where we organized the appointments and it was a disaster, right? I don't know if that was the case. It doesn't sound like any years were disasters, but Any kind of reflective insight or what you may have changed or how the program took shape to be what it is now that you feel like people should really think strategically about? David Cha (1:01:39) I would say with any program that you want to eventually grow in the long run, I would say think long term and I think people who are watching this seminar, to be honest, I'm not just being falsely humble here. I think are much smarter than I am. And so I will just share the small nuggets that I learned over the time over time is hire the right people to do the program. Cause it's never the program, it's always the people. And I the staff that I have right now, literally one of them. You know, she was teaching bus and then she will she had to remove a tumor. She's sitting at UCLA Medical Center on her bed, zooming with her students. I have another teacher who did bust and then had to overcome cancer. Incredible human being to begin with. And then when he was done with chemo, came back, said, I'm ready for bus again because I got help, kids that I to help. You know? Like when you're around individuals like that. It inspires, we inspire each other, you know? And and and all the the technicalities will work itself out if you have the right people on the team. Like everyone's, I think, smart enough to figure this stuff out of how to make it work for your school per se. But I would say, you know, like one so my team knows I'm not the smartest on the team. So what I do, Tom, so the what I do, it's kind of a little bit biblical model, but What I do is I identify people's strengths. So I have a go to person. Like if I need certain things created, like I call her, I was like, I need this. Can you help me? And she's like, I got it. And she's great at it. You know, why wrestle with something that you're gonna suck at when someone else is so much better at it? You know? Yes. I heard John Maxwell say this at a leadership seminar one time. And he said, if your gifted area, yeah, if you have one or two areas where you are eight or nine. And then in other areas you're like one or two. Don't try to make your one or two into like eight or nine because you're gonna hate doing it and you're just gonna hate spending time in it. Take your eight and nine and become a 10 and then team up with others who are eight or nine in areas where you are one or two. And so find others who are great at things you are not good at. Combine your strengths and make it work. Yes, every bus teacher does college essay consulting with our students. That's what we're doing. And and everyone has grown over the years and everyone has improved, which makes me very happy. But I also know the strengths of my team members. And so I know who I can ask for this. I know who I can ask for this. I know who can do this. And so I feel like that's what I've kind of learned to do over the over years. It wasn't that everyone's gonna do college essay coaching. It's okay, this person is good at this, that person is good at this. I'm gonna ask her for this help. I'm gonna ask him for that help. And and when you ask someone to do something that they're good at, they usually say yes. And so and so I feel like that's the lesson that I learned over time, just identifying people's strengths. One person's a hand, one person's a foot, one person's the nose, but we all need each other. And so that's how I feel like has led to the success of our program in 2026. Just knowing each other's strengths. And and just really uniting together with the common purpose. Tom Campbell (1:05:16) Yeah. It's one of those pieces of advice that like it you hear it and you're like, yeah, that makes like that makes sense, of course. But it's it's amazing actually how little sometimes that is actually put into practice. Yeah. And sometimes I think people force a certain hat or shade of color or whatever, you know, on something that just doesn't fit a person. Uh-huh. But it's just but that's because that's the person that's there. And I think just reversing the order of how you approach that rather than You know, yeah, just make this work and do this thing that maybe isn't not necessarily your natural aptitude, reverse that and and lean on strengths. It really makes a huge difference. David Cha (1:05:56) And if I can leave one last advice as we're kind of closing, I just want to remind I have to remind myself this at times because when you've done something when you have done work so hard at something for a long time, there's a subtle hint of arrogance and and and like it's it's me kind of mindset. But I have to remind myself it's not about me. And so even though I am no longer the coordinator of the Avid program, I am so happy with the coordinator now because she's an incredible leader. And which under her leadership, the program has just grown tremendously. Same thing with the bus program. One day I may not be a coordinator, but that's okay. And I don't care if nobody knows what I what I did, because it's not about me. You know, as long as the program is in a good place, in a healthy place, I don't need the recognition. You know, like I don't need my name, you know, smoking here or there, because it's what it does for our kids. I think it takes I it so that's a reminder I need to tell myself every day. Because you know, like when you put so much into something, there's that temptation of like this is my thing, you know. It's not about me. And so I as long as I have that attitude, I think, you know, sky's the limit in terms of what we can do together, you know. So I just wanted to finish with that. Tom Campbell (1:07:10) Yeah. Well I was gonna say leave with a mic drop inspirational message and that and everyone's gonna be happy. Yeah. And you definitely you made me very happy. Just it really is. Yeah. I kind of, you know, as I touched on a little before, it can be it's it's tough right now, you know, for many people for many different reasons. Yeah. And I hope that David Cha (1:07:32) man, it's always glad to talk to you. Tom Campbell (1:07:45) people take away from this conversation a sense of inspiration from what you've been able to do. And I hope that legacy of what you've put in that time, like those three AM arrivals, eleven PM departures, really the time is evident. Yeah. And and you should you should stand in that and and feel very proud. And we're very, very proud proud to be a partner with you. David Cha (1:08:09) thank you Tom. And we're so thankful for you guys at CEG. We're we're just I I hope it lasts a long time. And even after I retire, like I just just keep going. So thank Tom Campbell (1:08:20) So too. All right, David. Thank you so much. Take care. Thank you so much as always for joining us on this amazing episode. And I hope you feel so inspired with David's life. As always, any resources or notes or links or articles that we mentioned in the episode can be found in the show notes at college essaguy.com slash podcast. Can't wait to see you on the next one. Take care.
