Hold Fast to Dreams: A College Guidance Counselor, His Students, and the Vision of a Life Beyond Poverty
Beth Zasloff, Joshua Steckel

When Joshua Steckel left his job as a private school college counselor on New York City's Upper East Side to work at a public high school in Brooklyn, he discovered that for low-income students, the competitive game of college admissions has entirely different rules and much higher stakes. Mike writes his personal essays from a homeless shelter and struggles with both his longing to get away and his guilt at the thought of leaving his family in desperate circumstances.