When Due Quach was a new student at Harvard, she didn’t have much to add to her classmates’ conversations about their vacations. She had never been on one. Starting at age eight, she had worked almost every day at her family’s take-out restaurant, which was in a high-crime neighborhood of Philadelphia. She once saw a man get shot as he left the restaurant. Jumping from poverty to privilege resulted in panic attacks, depression and thoughts of suicide. What support services did Harvard offer? None. When colleges enroll talented but poor and traumatized students, shouldn’t they be prepared to help?
Quach, Due. Calm Clarity: How to Use Science to Rewire Your Brain for Greater Wisdom, Fulfillment, and Joy. Penguin Random House LLC, 2018, p. xi.