From lecture halls to local classrooms, two students are turning study sessions into stepping stones for high schoolers aiming high.
Founded last March, Navigating Educational Success Together (NEST) is a student-led non-profit organization helping high schoolers navigate university applications with guidance from current undergraduate students. Co-founders Adam Bizios, ArtSci ’27, and Colby Sidon, HealthSci ’27, hope to expand the NEST Project and empower secondary students to find their best-fit university. The name “NEST” reflects Bizios and Sidon viewing high school students as “eggs,” who will soon hatch into a new world come university.
In under a year, NEST has grown from a team of eight to 75 mentors and over 120 mentees. As a ed Ontario non-profit, it offers volunteer hours while connecting high schoolers with mentors across programs like commerce, sciences, and engineering. With mentors from Queen’s, Western University, and the University of Toronto, NEST now s students from over 25 high schools across multiple Ontario school boards.
Non-profit organizations in Ontario are classified as associations or corporations that aren’t charities and are organized for any purpose except profit. Bizios and Sidon hope to help prospective undergraduate students transition into university with ease, especially as they believe most lack a clear understanding of the application process.
“I how overwhelming it felt, both firstly to the application process and secondly sort of just transitioning into university life itself, balancing academics and navigating this completely new environment,” Sidon said in an interview with The Journal. “I wanted to sort of put something together that could sort of help ease that transition.”
“We want to make sure we’re being respectful, but also being very courteous of privacy, and we’re not here to kind of write their way in. We’re more here to them as mentors through our first-hand experiences to help them reach their goals,” Bizios added.
Bizios and Sidon met as first-years in McNeill House and bonded over shared interests. After an intramural hockey game and a meal at Location 21, a conversation about missing high school sparked the idea for NEST, driven by their own struggles navigating university life.
“We made it clear [to high school students] that our services are completely free and that we definitely don’t charge anyone any money at all for services. All of our mentors are volunteers. All of our program heads are volunteers,” Sidon said.
Mentees can sign up with a specific mentor of their choice on their “Our Mentors” website page and decide how often to meet with weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly choices.
Using social media platforms, NEST caters their advertising directly towards high school students. On Instagram, they share weekly informational posts focusing on application advice, tips and an overall focus on mentorship. On TikTok, NEST adopts more of a lighthearted approach, incorporating street interviews and trending content.
Both Bizios and Sidon aim to sustain their growth while maintaining a professional environment, ensuring every student receives the they need.
“Applicants or the incoming mentors can apply on our website. It’s a brief form where they pretty much just indicate what their year is and what university they’re at. We have a couple of other questions about their experience,” Sidon said.
The NEST Project is always open to new mentors who wish to help prospective students. Anyone can apply through their website.
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