Saying yes

I helped a student last night with a research project, and got to know a little bit about her story. She's Hispanic and a first generation college student. When she was in high school, a group from a non-profit organization pursued her as a prospective college student. She told me that when the people from this group first approached her, she was completely uninterested in having anything to do with them. But they kept asking her to participate. She also told me that all her teachers encouraged her to take advantage of the program that this non-profit offered. She finally said "yes" to their help, and eventually won a full-ride scholarship to the college of her choice. The scholarship included tuition, room and board, and possibly a stipend for books, and now she's a senior, and planning on attending graduate school. She's the only Hispanic student from her class that went to a four-year university. She also told me that the students, because they would often be first generation college students, do not know all the steps of the process for applying to college, and it is complicated.

We talked about how amazing it was that she said "yes" to that one opportunity, because it completely changed the trajectory of her life.