ABOUT US
The Establishment of Empowered to Succeed
Immigrating to a completely new country comes with so many fears, challenges, and
profound courage required to navigate a new culture, language and a new world. Where
uncertainty looms and the future remains unknown.
On February 2nd 2023, Empowered to Succeed (ETS) was born as a beacon of hope for
disadvantaged and underrepresented English Student Learners (ESL) in high school.
Co-founded by my brother Rayan Haj Sakor, and myself, Joud Haj Sakor, ETS was built
from our own journeys as past ESL students who faced struggles of adapting to a new
educational system, culture, and life in the US. Our experiences fueled our determination
to establish a program that addresses those challenges and as well as a program that
inspires so much hope in our ESL students. To show them everything can be possible and
help them plan out their careers.
Our mission is to ensure that ESL students have access to resources and opportunities that
prioritize language acquisition, future planning, and cultural understanding. By providing
these opportunities, we aim to empower our students to succeed not only in the classroom
but also in other aspects of their lives.
We take great pride in our recruitment of mentors who are bilingual and hail from diverse
cultural backgrounds. Our commitment is to ensure our ESL students feel represented,
where students see a reflection of their own identities. However, our aspiration goes
beyond mere representation; we wholeheartedly embrace and celebrate in the beauty of
our distinctive diversities. Our team consists of college students pursuing various career
paths including engineering, medicine, nursing, social work, and many others. Each
mentor brings their own unique journey and expertise, allowing them to connect with
English learner students on a deeper level. Our mentors are not only passionate about
supporting these students, but they are also eager to share their own experiences, inspire,
and create a ripple effect of positive impact on our ESL students. Go to “meet our mentors” to read each mentor’s unique story.
ETS takes great pride to be a fully non-profit organization, which means that students pay
absolutely no fees for being mentored. We hold a strong belief that no financial obstacles
should stand in the way of students’ access to essential educational resources. To achieve
this vision, we depend on generous contributions from both organizations and individuals
who share our commitment to empowering ESL youth.