College Bound

Authors use poems to inspire tomorrow’s scholars

By James Raia
September 2026

About eight years ago, Andrew Noseworthy and his mother, Victoria Rosario, recognized a disappointing trend.

“We were talking about how more kids these days are calling college a sham and are really staying away,” the Sacramento attorney says. “It’s a mindset we noticed.”

The mother-son duo decided to help counter the phenomenon. They wrote a book. With Andrew as author and his mother, a long-time educator, as collaborator, “ABCs to College” was self-published last November.

The 58-page book, the author says, “Exposes young children to the words, images and possibilities of higher education at an early age.”

The format is simple: every letter in the alphabet is a short poem.

The letter A reads: “You Can Go to College, Anyone Can Try. When You Are Ready, You Will Apply.”

The letter Z reads: “Zoology, Language, Science or Math. Whatever You Study, Let It Be Your Path!”

Organizing the book was a collaborative, creative process. When the authors considered how to describe a college application, they focused on one key word.

“What do we want the page ‘Apply’ to look like?” Noseworthy says. “Let’s put a young kid in front of a computer applying to school online. What image best conveys the word we are trying to expose the child to?

“It’s just going through the alphabet, figuring out which kind of word would be the most appropriate for that letter and provide the most benefit for a kid to hear.”

A Sacramento State and Lincoln Law graduate, Noseworthy hired an illustrator from an online digital marketplace. The assignment was to select the most appropriate depiction for each letter.

“I had a great experience with this lady, she did very well,” Noseworthy says of the artist. “I love the art. It’s the old Disney style.”

The book’s purpose is to introduce young readers to college life and emphasize how college is for everyone, regardless of ability and background.

The book’s online summary erases any doubts about where young readers will eventually land:

“The question is not, ARE you going to college? But rather, WHERE are you going to college? Let’s get our children to start dreaming big and exploring how their journey to college can begin today!”

Publishing is never easy and success has been modest. But the book is finding an audience with sales from South Carolina to Germany. Noseworthy gave free copies to libraries and has a sales representative talking to corporations.

The first-time authorship process was tedious.

“Oh my gosh, going back and forth with the editor was probably 18 months getting it how I wanted it,” he says.

Noseworthy hopes to get the book circulated in classrooms, with sponsors buying copies in bulk.

“It’s exciting to see,” he says. “It’s just cool to see the book getting around in different parts of the world. But I would like to get to the point where I can just distribute the book free of charge.”

“ABCs to College” is available on Amazon and other online retailers in hardcover, paperback, Kindle and Nook formats.
James Raia can be reached at james@jamesraia.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.