Move-In Day

By Cara

Out of caution and nerves, I checked the oil and the tires while gassing up at the station at the top of Erica’s street. When I pulled up to her house, I realized it was the second time in two weeks that I’d knocked on her door; the first time was to give her a ride to the Lock-in overnight program College Bound had for their collegians. When I met Erica that first time, I liked her right away. She seemed honest and strong, and I had no idea how true those initial impressions would turn out to be.

Erica said she had been packed for days, and every time she passed by those boxes, she itched for the chance to unpack them in her first dorm room. But she didn’t know how she was going to get there. Erica’s Aunt Helen confided that she was seriously worried and that it was frustrating that after everything Erica had done to get into college, a major obstacle could be as simple as transportation. The family doesn’t own a car, so that’s why Erica needed a ride to the College Bound event the previous week, and why she needed a ride to college.

During the two-hour ride to school, Erica and I got a chance to get to know each other. Helen rode in the backseat, having sweetly declined the front so that Erica and I could get a chance to talk. And talk we did. Our conversation was almost exclusively about college; her courses, expectations for what college will be like, making friends. I could tell from her voice that Erica was really excited, though she remained outwardly calm. In talking with her, I realized she was much more mature and self-aware than I was when I was a freshman. She’d already figured out things it took me a few years of college to learn. She also has big goals for herself: she wants to work for Doctors without Borders, become trilingual, travel the world, and even live in France for a while. I’m confident she’s going to achieve anything she puts her mind to. Erica is an incredibly smart and also very wise young woman.

Once on campus, we unpacked Erica’s things and realized we needed to run to Wal Mart to grab a few dorm living essentials, like a shower caddy and a laundry bag. We had lunch at the Subway in Wal Mart after we were done shopping. Helen seemed relieved that we’d gotten Erica everything she was going to need. When we went back to campus, we met Jordan, Erica’s energetic and bubbly roommate from Kansas City. We all chatted a bit, took some pictures, and then Erica simply said she was ready, and that was our cue to go. As we said goodbye, there were tears, hugs, and a lot of last-minute advice.

On the ride back, at first Helen was quiet for a while, and said she was thinking about Erica. Helen thanked me for the ride, but I waved her off. It was such a pleasure to see Erica settling into her dorm, and to share in such an important day. Helen called Erica, and she picked up, but she was already out and exploring campus with her roommate.

I think she’s off to a great start.

From the Military to Millikin

By Jordan

Have you ever met someone who was so inspiring that every time you spoke with this individual you were just in awe? I have learned so much from my students in the 6 to 7 months that I have served at College Bound. I decided to serve a term of service with this organization because I wanted to make an impact. However, I now know that my students had their own agenda in mind. Although extremely different, each one of my students has taught me something new every day. I have learned so much from conversing with them that I feel like I am back in school. They are truly an inspiration and are very special to my heart.

More specifically, one of my students truly amazes me every time I talk with her. She is confident, determined, and self motivated just to name a few. She knows exactly what she wants out of life and she is working towards that goal every day. Stephanie is a student that leaves me in awe at the end of every conversation. I learned at the beginning of my term of service that she was very determined to serve in the National Guard. After countless persistence to urge her to stay in school, she decided that she wanted to enlist. She is now finished with active duty with the National Guard and is enrolled at Millikin University.

Even though the transition from the military to school has been difficult, she continues to stay motivated and confident that she will master her classes. Stephanie’s major is IT and she loves politics. She recently informed me that she was offered an internship that she really wanted at Funds for American Study through the Institute of Business and Government Affairs. This internship will take place in Washington D.C and its purpose is to prepare young people for leadership in the life of their communities and the nation by providing them with opportunities in the nation’s capital for enlightenment and enrichment. She spent weeks preparing and I proud to see that her preparation paid off.

Last but not least, Stephanie recently told me that she wants to create an organization on campus that supports veterans adjust and transition into college. Stephanie is truly a star that consistently shines in my heart. Growing up, she was always the one who everyone depended on. She took care of her mom, and her siblings. Although that’s an amazing characteristic of hers, I am very glad to watch Stephanie finally begin to take care of herself!

More than Tutoring

By Kalli

One of my favorite things about working at College Bound is our ability to help our students and families with things that other programs cannot. We aren’t simply a tutoring program, or a program that gives good advice about college, or even a program that takes students on college tours. We have a mission to help our students graduate from four-year universities in order to earn life-sustaining wages, and once a student is in our program we will do whatever it takes to make that happen. Recently, one of our families was struggling to purchase a calculator which made it difficult for the student to complete his homework.

Here at College Bound this is exactly the kind of thing we tackle head-on. The student’s mother actually wrote her perspective of the story, and I thought that perhaps sharing her version would best convey this story and how College Bound strives to partner with our families.

“I thought I had it all together this school year, as far as school supplies go. My son’s Physics class called for a scientific calculator. The calculator I had from last year was actually the wrong model. My son told me that the teacher let him use hers the 1st week and then she said he could rent it from her each day.

He used some of his lunch money to rent it, I did not know that. We did not have the cash to get the upgraded TI-84 PLUS Graphing model that he needed. I was lost and I felt really bad. The calculator we needed retailed at $100.00 and some. Nathan told me that he was the only one with out the correct calculator. I thought about how helpful Kalli is at College Bound and decided to ask if any of the College Bound staff had the correct model calculator, since they tutor the students. I was told to hold on and Kalli would ask around for me. I was super happy when I got the call back about the calculator search. College Bound was so nice to us, They actually went out and bought the calculator a few days later. College Bound presented the calculator to us with a very good option plan. We were told we could either borrow it all year or we can buy it from them and make payments. I had heavy pressure on me before I mentioned the need to College Bound. I felt a huge relief after I talked to Kalli about the options. I felt hopeful! To get the calculator a few days after asking and to know we could make payments! Man was I HAPPY!!!! We decided to make payments and in the end the TI-84 PLUS will be ours for future use. College Bound does so much for my son and our family, I just wish I could do more for them.”

Practice ACT Tests

By Maureen

Tiana leaving the ACT with a smile

I need a little inspiration for the practice tests- it takes so much time and energy. Luckily, I know for sure that it really transforms students’ experiences.

Before we started the ACT, we were talking about how it made the kids feel. Predictably, the answers were ‘bad’, ‘awful’, ‘scared’, etc… And Gail shared that her biggest fear was that she was going to have a panic attack during the middle of it and be unable to finish- it was too big and too important and too unknown for her.

I was talking to her yesterday, and I asked her if that’s how she still felt… she said no, that she’s taken it so many times by now that it doesn’t scare her anymore. She said that she knows what it feels like to go to a college campus, sit down and open the test, and that she knows that it’s going to be exactly the same on the day of the real test. She said, “I got my people I sit with, and I know what time I gotta set my alarm for, and I know how I can do well now.”

So that morning, I set my alarm for the practice test with a smile- well, maybe not a smile, but with good cheer.

Passing Notes

By Leah

It’s a popular saying among educators that February is the longest shortest month of the year. Being in a school during the month of February can be a dreary experience. It is the month when the afterglow of the holiday season fades, and the long march to Spring Break begins. Students are often restless and work loads pile up for students and staff alike. In College Bound, students spend January, February, and March of their junior year participating in rigorous ACT preparatory classes. This is a huge opportunity for students, and also a huge amount of work. Students start off eager, but sustaining that enthusiasm for 3 long months is a mammoth task.

It was on one of these humdrum, February days during ACT prep that I found myself looking around the classroom watching students’ eyelids begin to flicker. Response times for questions were getting slower and slower. I saw a student reach for a cellphone and another pull her Personal Finance homework out from underneath her ACT book and try to work on it on the sly. It was clear– the February funk was hitting College Bound ACT prep hard.

At the back table I saw Christine, usually a very focused student, exchanging a small piece of paper with a friend. I went to her and asked her to hand me the paper. I looked at the words and smiled: “Allison– you always have a positive attitude no matter what. Thank you for being my friend.” I smiled, and looked down at her desk. On it, there was a note for each student with a special message of encouragement. Christine asked me if she could pass them out to the rest of class.

‘That day, Christine’s burst of positivity gave us what we needed to get through that day of ACT prep. She allowed students to see the bigger picture of why we were there, and re-energized students in a way that only a peer can . After passing out all the notes, she came up to me and handed me a slip of paper, which read “Leah, you’re a really great mentor.” And I couldn’t have been more proud.

A Message from the Heart

By Jordan

I have been an AmeriCorps member for College Bound for almost four months now. While being an AmeriCorps member I have really valued working for an organization that has the student’s best interest at heart. My passion has always been to help and advise individuals in need and I believe that being a Persistence Coach at College Bound is the perfect fit for me.

My role as a persistence coach is to mentor and advise college students. I work with the college juniors and my focus is to ensure that they maintain academic success. I also aim to serve all of their needs to the best of my ability. Because many of my students have been in College Bound since its creation, many of them were very resistant to my attempts to coach them. They were so burnt out on meeting and bonding with new people that they ignored my phone calls, text messages, and any form of communication that I used to try and get in contact with them. In the beginning, I took it extremely personal. I thought that there was something wrong with me or my coaching methods. However, as time went on, I began to bond with more and more of them and to this day, I can honestly say that I have a strong relationship with the majority of them.

This is where my story begins:

The conversations that I was having with my students were very impactful and many of them were reaching out to me for help. Unfortunately, there was still one student who I had heard wonderful things about that would not respond to any of my communication attempts. He was studying abroad in England so the forms of communication to get in contact with him were extremely limited. I tried reaching out to him countless times on Facebook and I contacted a few of his friends in the College Bound junior class to ask them how I could reach out to him as well.

After weeks of antagonizing over him not communicating with him, I finally thought of a creative idea to send him an e-card. Although very lighthearted, I briefly told him that I had heard wonderful things about him and I really wanted to get to know him. Luckily, the humor and the creativity broke the ice and we instantly formed a strong coaching connection. Because he is abroad, we mainly Skyped and talked on Facebook. The rumors about him were right and it turned out that he was a wonderful and bright student. Not only was he doing very well in his classes, but he was also taking the opportunity to explore the culture around him. During one of our conversations, I asked him what his plans were for his winter break. He told me that he was going to spend a weekend in Rome. As we finished up our check-in conversation I jokingly asked him to send me a post card. I thought he would have forgotten or sent a generic postcard of “wish you were here”. I would have never imagined that one of my students would send a postcard with such a thoughtful message as his.

He wrote: “Five years ago we began the most essential part of my life, and each year we made tremendous progress–great diligence junior year constructing essays and applying to colleges, senior year for the mishaps that occurred before graduation (I owe my heart to Debbie and Laura). A successful start freshman year of college, extensive life coaching during a setback sophomore year (I owe my life to Laurie). And now I experience the world from a different perspective alongside my new coach Jordan. You all are truly amazing and have changed my life forever. Words can’t express how much it all means to me! Continue to change lives, as I will soon be joining you all in the near future, With much love from London.

Robert”

This message confirmed the importance of my role as an AmeriCorps member. Robert really showed me that the support that we give our students goes a long way. Robert has been with College Bound since his sophomore year of high school, and it is such a GREAT feeling to coach him while he is growing into a very mature adult! As I continue my service as an AmeriCorps member, I know that I will have many Great Stories to tell but I will always keep Robert’s wonderful postcard close to my heart!

Life After AmeriCorps in Columbia, MO

This past week, some of our AmeriCorps members traveled to Columbia, MO to learn more about “Life After AmeriCorps.”

Four of our members won awards! Here are some photos from the event:

Our 4 winners!Jordan was one of the AmeriCorps state winners from the Missouri Service Commission.

Katlyn won a VISTA award for the state of Missouri.Leah received honorable mention for the State AC award.And so did Maureen.Micah sang… which was probably more exciting than the awards.Our entire, beautiful group!