Natasha Dhanraj hit the ground running when she started as a freshman at York College in 2024. Through her participation in the Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge (SEEK) program, she benefited from a range of resources that included tutoring tailored to her academic needs, financial assistance, peer mentoring, personalized counseling and career guidance.
In her short time at CUNY, she has become an engaged and promising scholar whose participation in campus initiatives opened her up to becoming a SEEK mentor, guiding new students and giving them the kind of help she got acclimating to college life. She credits the program with shaping her educational journey. “If I wasn’t a SEEK student, I don’t know what my college experience would be,” she said. “I work at SEEK, I met my friends through the summer program — I don’t think I would have the foundation I do without it.”
This year marks the 60th anniversary of SEEK, the nation’s first state-funded academic opportunity initiative. The program traces its origins to the Civil Rights Movement, when student activists worked with community leaders to push for greater equity and access in higher education for Black and Hispanic students and others from underserved communities. Legislative leaders, including Assembly Members Percy Sutton and Shirley Chisholm, heeded this call and moved to get SEEK signed into state law in 1966. Since then, the program and its community college counterpart College Discovery (CD) have helped upwards of 100,000 students to access and complete a college degree.
I had the chance to join about 100 current SEEK students and staff who traveled to Albany for the Caucus Weekend legislative conference earlier this month to help mark the anniversary. Some of them represented our University with great distinction during CUNY’s luncheon as they met and heard from elected leaders including Attorney General Tish James, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
A separate event that day included a panel that was moderated by Keisha Sutton- James, the granddaughter of Percy Sutton and former deputy borough president of Manhattan, who powerfully reflected on the program’s continuing ability to uplift students (and in this recent NY1 interview). Also participating was Assembly Member Khaleel Anderson, a Queens College graduate who said being part of SEEK helped shape his experience as well as his appreciation for public service.
“SEEK challenged me from day one, strengthened my academic skills, and helped me understand how to navigate spaces that can feel unfamiliar or intimidating at first,” Anderson said. “It reminded me that opportunity and support can change the trajectory of someone’s life, and that’s something I carry with me every day in my work as an Assembly member.”
In all, the weekend was an energizing start to the many celebrations unfolding across our campuses this year.
Standing next to Natasha as she addressed attendees at the program was Michael Valero, a York College junior who helped steward the revival of SEEK’s mentorship program after the pandemic.
Even as he overcame his own personal challenges, Michael helped provide a welcoming environment for York’s SEEK participants. His experience offered another pointed reminder of SEEK’s success in helping generations of CUNY students and showed why it has inspired similar programs across the nation.
“Being a SEEK student has made me more aware of what other students are going through,” Michael said. “The community is really what makes it such a great program, especially because everyone comes from a similar walk of life. They know where you’re coming from.”
Matos Rodríguez is the chancellor of the City University of New York (CUNY), the largest urban public university system in the United States.
