Javon West is a CURE Scholar and rising 9th grader attending Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in the fall. Javon began his journey at UMB CURE Scholars Program as a sixth grader at Southwest Baltimore Charter School and now he has transitioned to the CURE Connections High School program (C2).

The CURE Connections (C2) Program is CURE’s high school component that supports scholars as they transition into high school and beyond. C2 provides Saturday programming during the school year focused on academic enrichment, college and career readiness support, and hands-on STEM experiences; and a 5 week summer learning, recreational and paid internship in STEM fields. We caught up with Javon to check-in with his transition into high school and the C2 program.

Q: How do you feel CURE has helped you in your success in middle school, and how do you think it will continue to help you as you go to high school?

A: CURE has been a place in which I have been able to learn new things that are also applicable in the classroom as well. The additional time in CURE to work with teachers and mentors in order to learn things that I can also apply in class has been really helpful. CURE gives me more applied knowledge. CURE was also really helpful in opening doors to multiple High School Choices, understanding that I had a choice and that I was more than qualified to go anywhere I wanted through the support of the staff and mentors. The CURE team is always behind me whenever I needed the help and I really appreciate that.

Q: What are you looking forward to most in high school?

A: The main thing I want to achieve is to keep on learning. Once I go to high school I want to go to college to continue my education. It’s all about the knowledge, I always want to keep learning more. Keep challenging myself. I plan to continue with Debate, Science Olympiad and working.

Q: Now that you’re done with middle school, what are your goals for the future?

A: I want to be able to take the things I am good at and enjoy and put them together in a way where I get to learn more about it. I want to become a researcher or maybe get a doctoral degree like some of the mentors at CURE. I know I want to be a scientist in the field of either Biology or Technology, maybe both.

When asked about how he winds down from his academic responsibilities, he’s all about playing video games and watching anime. Javon continues to make consistent strides since becoming a CURE scholar in 2016, he continues to achieve academically and was even honored as the keynote speaker at his virtual middle-school graduation.