Nick Torres: The Pursuit of Education and Community

The age-old question that prospective, current, and past Amherst students always have on their minds: What is the Amherst experience? For the longest time, I couldn’t give you an answer that does this question justice. How could you possibly point to one singular thing that encapsulates what Amherst College is all about? As this year has come to a close, however, I realized that one person highlights all that Amherst has to offer: Nick Torres ’25, a close friend of mine for the past two years. Nick, an education studies major, makes the most of his education by branching out to as many people as possible. Whether you’ve met him through the Ed Studies Club, La Causa, or as an enthusiastic community advisor (CA), Nick’s passion for fostering community follows him wherever he goes.

The Mammoth Upbringing

Nick grew up in South Orange, New Jersey. He liked staying active through sports like track, cross country, and basketball, and still participates in intramural basketball and 5k runs at Amherst. His immediate family, including his sister Emma Torres ’28, plays a crucial part in his life. Nick calls his parents often to talk through his education studies ideas, asking for support and constructive criticism. “Nick has probably talked through his entire thesis at this point with our parents,” Emma explained. Nick also cites his sister as a source of inspiration, pushing himself to be the best student he possibly can be for her.

Nick’s family stretches far beyond New Jersey, with family members throughout the United States. Whether they are family by blood or found family, Nick stresses daily how important his entire family is to his success, which his sister sees clearly. “He’s just kind of the person who will always have your back and always be in your corner, even if you’re not always in the right,” Emma said.

Early on, he became involved in education through the Wight Foundation, an organization designed to help talented students in the Greater Newark area achieve academic success by working with local private and selective schools. “The Wight Foundation started supporting me the summer after my seventh-grade year with intense coursework in English, history, and math to prepare me for a [private] boarding school,” Nick said. The program awarded Nick a scholarship to attend a Maryland private high school, which he attended before he transferred to the Church Farm School in Exton, Pennsylvania, in 2019. 

“I decided that it would be better to transfer so I could have more opportunities — academically in terms of advanced coursework, but also more opportunities outside of the classroom, like participating in track, since my first high school didn’t have a team,” Nick explained. 

Nick credits the Wight Foundation and the Director of College Advising Amadi Slaughter for encouraging him to apply to Amherst, stating he’d fit right in. “I was looking primarily at small schools, and I’m a fan of the open curriculum — of course, who isn’t? I had gotten on campus and toured pre-Covid, and I felt like the people seemed happy.” 

Eventually, the college letters came in. “I was absolutely flabbergasted. 
I did not think I would get in. I was extremely shocked,”  he said.

The Amherst Experience

Even before Nick arrived on campus, he was making a splash with his fellow students. “The first time I met Nick was online,” Lily Krakoff ’25, a longtime friend, said. “He completely stood out as someone who’s super outgoing and super excited to meet members of his class … I immediately knew that he would be fun and a great presence to have around.” 

Upon arriving on campus, Nick continued to extend his friendship to whoever was willing to accept it. “The first time I met Nick was on the First-year Quad around October,” Camille Shilland ’25, another close friend. “I was in a group of people, and he was super outgoing, and we immediately hit it off. By the end of our short conversation, we had each other’s phone numbers. We already had plans to hang out, which, in hindsight, was like the most Nick meeting ever. We went from total strangers to friends in probably 10 minutes.”

When Nick applied to Amherst, there was no education studies major. Still, he knew he wanted to explore his interest in education, so he created his own opportunities to do so. 

One way was by getting involved in the admissions office, where he could see how higher education institutions functioned. “I was able to understand higher education beyond just theory, through an internship with the admissions office, being a tour guide, and being on the faculty committee for admission and financial aid,” Nick said. 

Another pathway was through the Loeb Center’s Careers in Education Professions. The Program Director, Robert Siudzinski, hosts an Education Trek every spring break for students to network and learn from education professionals outside of the United States. Nick discussed his experience in the United Kingdom last spring. “We went to London, Oxford, Glasgow, and Edinburgh,” Nick said. “It was amazing to hear from experts in the field, and I’m very grateful for that opportunity.”

The education studies major was officially available to students in Nick’s first year, and Nick began to explore the courses as the department found its own identity. One course that stood out to Nick was the Purpose and Politics of Education with Five College Professor of Education Studies Kristen Luschen. “I took the class in my freshman spring semester,” Nick said. “It’s essentially the foundational course for education studies; I couldn’t imagine studying education without taking it.” Nick officially declared education studies as his major that spring and hasn’t looked back, exploring all the department has to offer. 

Besides his coursework, Nick has also been extremely passionate about conducting research relating to education studies. One opportunity Nick praised was the Big Ten Academic Alliance. “The program helps underrepresented students achieve actual research experience,” Nick explained. “I earned admissions to programs at the University of Iowa and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and ultimately decided to sign on for the summer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.” Nick worked with Dr. Taylor Odle, evaluating which college factors make students more or less likely to take on loans.

Nick’s educational opportunities, coursework, and research experience prepared him for his educational studies thesis. “My thesis was about promise programs, which provide students free tuition,” he said. “It [specifically] focused on how schools and counselors learn about those programs. If the counselors share the information, they should be prioritized when the outreach information is being formulated.” Nick’s thesis revealed that the outreach didn’t make it to many counselors, leading him to form five policy recommendations for the outreach information given to counselors: simplified, clear language; early and direct outreach; standardized admission requirements; expanded and enhanced outreach to families; and standardized training.

Once Nick graduates from Amherst, he will be pursue a master’s degree at the University of Michigan’s Marsal Family School of Education, concentrating on public policy. “One of the things I’m passionate about is higher education access, initiatives, interventions: the types of things that we can put into place to ensure students have opportunities. In an ideal world, I'll be able to design, run, and evaluate my own program. If I could combine scholarship and practice, that would be really nice.” Nick, however, is also open to continuing work at higher educational institutions. “Whether it would be conducting research on financial aid programs or working in an admissions office, anything in those areas would be right up my alley.”

College For All 

Nick has continued to use his acquired knowledge of higher education to help current prospective college students receive acceptances from universities and colleges across the country with “The College For All Program,” the non-profit organization he founded in his senior year of high school. 

“I was talking to my friend Jeremiah, who didn’t think he would go out of state for college because he didn’t think it was affordable or possible. I was like, ‘Oh, what if I just created an Instagram account to post college information that anyone could access online for free?’ And it turned into a peer support group where people could get together on Zoom, talk about different applications, waiver codes, and all that stuff,” he explained. 

When Nick and his peers finally started attending several colleges, people suggested that Nick should turn the program into a mentorship, which he later did. “We’ve worked with over 700 students and helped them apply to colleges and universities. I want to say that we take our students and meet them where they are. It’s a competitive process [getting into the program] nowadays because we’ve gained so much notoriety and respect within the college-access world.” 

All students in the program have been accepted to four-year colleges, with many students going to Ivy League schools and receiving full-ride scholarships. His most recent cohort comes from 18 states, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., and four other countries, with 70% of students coming from underrepresented backgrounds and 71% being first-generation college students. However, anyone not accepted into the program still has access to all the college-related resources and information posted on the Instagram page. Nick spends over 14 hours per week working with students, the Instagram page, and various projects that help hopeful college students succeed throughout the college application process. While Nick’s work for the organization can seem overwhelming, his incredible passion for educational access makes it seem so simple.

“I’m spending a lot of time processing financial aid appeals, which can be tedious, but I like numbers,” he said. During the hustle and bustle of the college application season, Nick is on the phone talking through different college options and trying to find the best ones for his students. He keeps his students in the loop about deadlines, opportunities, and other ways to boost their college applications. “We could be in the middle of dinner, and he would drop everything and get on Zoom,” Shilland said. “One time we were in line for Starbucks, and one of his students needed a question, and he already had his AirPods in, ready to help out.”

The Nick Experience

While Nick’s academic and professional career paths are certainly big reasons why he represents the best of us, his strongest attribute is, by far, his ability to quickly build community. His work as a CA in notoriously bad dorm halls (Tyler and Cohan) highlights this ability the best. For example, despite the reputation Cohan has built up as one of the worst dormitories on campus, Nick is constantly doing all he can to make life great for his residents. 

Current Cohan resident Bailey McCarthy ’27 said, “I could not imagine Cohan without Nick Torres. He’s constantly checking in and ensuring he’s doing all he can to make my time in Cohan great. Nick’s the best.” 

Shilland said that Nick has become infamous for being a great CA across campus. “I’ll mention Nick when I’m around a group of underclassmen who live in Cohan, and they’ll be like, ‘Nick, the CA? He’s the best! He put a bag of snacks on my door handle once when I was sick. He always knocks on my door when he walks by my room and says good night,’ or something like that,” she said.

Throughout my interview with Nick, he praised a new person for their immense help in his journey every minute. By the end, he had named over 250 people. From our countless Val lunches and afternoon chats, it has always been clear how friendly and personable Nick is. Anyone, however, can tell you about this from just one meeting with Nick. His enthusiasm for meeting new people leaves almost everyone with a positive impression by the time their conversation ends. If you were to go around campus and ask a random person if they know Nick Torres, I’d say over 40% of people would have something to say.

“Nick has a real talent for building community in so many different ways, whether it be super informal or more formal, as he does in his programs,” Krakoff said. “His room, ever since our first year, has really been like a hub for meeting fun new people, and everyone’s always allowed to join. 
And I think that shows who Nick is as a person.” 

As for me, Nick has been one of my dearest friends and reaffirmed that I belong at Amherst. Entering freshman year, I was absurdly nervous and unsure if I had made the right decision coming to Amherst. I was with a group heading to a mixer in Moore, feeling a bit uncomfortable but hopeful towards the future. As I reached the third floor, I swiftly met Nick and felt welcomed in a place that was all too strange for me. It was incredible how quickly Nick made me feel confident about attending Amherst. Without Nick’s kindness, friendship, and general support, I wouldn’t have been able to make as many friends as I have with people here. 

I greatly respect Nick for several reasons, but I particularly admire his support as a friend. Throughout the two years I’ve known him, there’s never been a day when he wasn’t actively trying to make someone’s day better. Nick supported several seniors throughout their theses this year, bringing food and other items to help them work. He’s generous with his time, whether he’s known someone for four years or four minutes. 

Nick’s generosity pairs well with his incredible sense of humor, which every interviewee heavily emphasized. Shilland mentioned how Nick supported her when she had Covid their freshman year. “I needed to get a package from the post office, so Nick came to my door and I slid my student ID under it so he could pick it up,” said Shilland. “Nick put on a whole show of spraying Lysol on it, acting like I was super infectious. It was nice to have some humor during the entire situation, and he was so, so considerate in grabbing my package while I was sick.” Moments like these are just one of many for Nick, brightening people’s days through his comedic ability and never-ending support.

Amherst College is a one-of-a-kind institution because it brings such different students together in so many ways, whether through organizations, events, or people like Nick. So the next time someone asks you about the Amherst experience, tell them about Nick Torres.