Osmel Feliz

Osmel Feliz hails from West New York, New Jersey—a small but incredibly vibrant town perched on the Palisades cliffs, overlooking the Manhattan skyline. With its large Caribbean population, West New York offered both familiarity and a sense of possibility for Osmel and his household that was spearheaded by a Dominican immigrant mother. As a single parent, she did everything she could to open doors she never had—encouraging Osmel constantly, reminding him to speak up for himself and to trust his own abilities. Those small lessons stayed with him, even if he didn’t realize how important they were at the time.

Despite being born in the U.S., Osmel was placed in a bilingual classroom as an early elementary school student, learning English alongside classmates who had recently arrived in the country. He remembers all the small victories his mother celebrated—from reading his first English book at age six to getting an A+ on his science exam.

Osmel’s curiosity first took root in the first grade. During one science lesson about the solar system, he raised his hand when the teacher noted that the sun is a star. “If our sun is a star with planets around it, does that mean other stars also have planets?” he asked. When she smiled and affirmed him with a “Yes,” she unknowingly welcomed him into a lifetime of curiosity about science and space exploration.

By the time he reached high school, Osmel had developed a reputation for curiosity and determination. He immersed himself in student government, STEM-related clubs, and even helped revive Memorial High School’s STEAM Academy after it had dissolved during COVID. Rallying students from different grades to rebuild helped Osmel realize something new about himself—people trusted him to take initiative, and he had the ability to bring others together.

During his junior year, Osmel learned about Circle Match and was drawn to its mission of empowering students from low-income communities to uplift their hometowns through the college application process and beyond. Through Circle Match, he found a space where he could ask questions, build confidence, and receive the kind of personalized guidance that made the college process feel manageable rather than overwhelming. The mentorship, structure, and encouragement he received reinforced his belief in his own potential and helped him grow as both a student and a leader.

With the confidence that Circle Match activated in him, he felt empowered to run for Student Representative to the Board of Education. Although stepping into a leadership role felt daunting, he embraced the challenge. In this position, he scheduled a meeting with administrators to discuss student concerns and help strengthen communication between students and the school. “At first, it was intimidating to walk into that meeting with senior administrators,” Osmel admits, “but I realized that leadership meant learning to communicate clearly, advocate thoughtfully, and help create solutions.”

With renewed motivation and more than 80 hours of personalized guidance, Osmel applied to some of the country’s most competitive engineering programs. When he opened his acceptance letter from Vanderbilt, he felt a sense of relief wash over him—as if every obstacle he had carried was finally behind him. His first thought was of his mother and everything she had sacrificed to get him to this moment. His second was a quiet promise to himself: that he would make opportunities like this accessible for more students in his community.

Today, Osmel is a mechanical engineering major at Vanderbilt University. He is a member of the Vanderbilt Aerospace Design Laboratory, where he and his team design rockets for NASA’s Student Launch Initiative. He also serves as the President of his dorm building; this semester, he manages campus-wide “Study Sessions” and manages a $10,000 budget as part of his leadership role. And through Circle Match, he continues to pay it forward—offering college advising to students from the very community that raised him. He sees leadership as a responsibility to lift others the way he was lifted. “Circle Match showed me I didn’t have to wait until later in life to give back—I could start now.”

Ultimately, Osmel learned that his story is one of resilience—a story shaped by community, gratitude, and belonging. “I used to be the bystander,” he says. “Now I’m speaking up because that’s what my mom always wanted for me. And that is what Circle Match helped me do by unlocking my potential as a leader who speaks up not only for myself, but for others as well.”