Wily Blog

Students are heading back to school for the fall semester, and that means we’re returning to a schedule of regular, in-person meetings with every Scholar! We geared up for the new semester with All-Pack Prep Week; a week where staff spent time together for trainings and team-building activities.

A collection of poetry by Wily Scholar Tommy, Boston College '25

When Wily met Eric James, we were both just starting out. He hadn’t yet enrolled at UMass Dartmouth, and we were yet to partner with our first student. Now, seven years  and more than 100 Wily Scholars later, we sat down with Eric to talk about his new role. The first ever Wily Scholar has been appointed Mattapan’s Neighborhood Liaison to City Hall by Mayor Michelle Wu.

During my senior year of high school and freshman year of college, I decided to read some books outside of my comfort zone. This is a list of the ones that have changed my perspective and inspired me. I find that the books that make [...]

Mackenzie Fierceton is the child of a doctor who attended a private prep school in a wealthy suburb. She also called herself a first-generation low-income student. But Mackenzie Fierceton is not a liar. She is a student who found herself in a complex and easily-misunderstood situation: working towards her degree without support from family. Just as Mackenzie’s story was misunderstood, what makes a student a Wily Scholar [...]

Why Wily? That’s the question board chair Katie Bramley asked at the 2022 Annual Meeting. Throughout the evening, we heard a variety of answers to the question. We heard about the sense of community and camaraderie at the first Wily Thanksgiving dinner, the supportive environment that Scholars build with one another, and the close [...]

We started off Spring Community Day with a dare: can you go the whole day without saying one of the banned words? We were all given five clothespins, and told that we could take someone else’s clothespins if we heard them say: Scholar, Judi, Wily, Coach or College. It was a challenge. It’s hard to spend [...]

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a mentor and a coach? Since January is National Mentoring Month, we thought we’d take the opportunity to explain! Here’s the quick version: mentors are role models who speak from a place of experience. Coaches are collaborators who specifically focus on working with you to achieve your goals. Of course, many mentors [...]

The first Wily Network Career Fair was a success! Recruiters from 18 different companies spoke to Scholars about their own career paths and opportunities in their field. We saw lots of resumes and job descriptions changing hands [...]