Bill DeBaun, Senior Director of Data and Strategic Services
Reading time: Five minutes
National College Attainment Network (NCAN) members across the United States work on behalf of students every day to help them access and attain postsecondary pathways that will lead to successful and fulfilling lives. At a 2023 NCAN National Conference
plenary session on Wednesday, October 18, three member-served students spoke to the value of the services they received and how their lives had been positively impacted.
The question in the session’s title: “Student Voices Responding to ‘Why College?’” was succinctly answered by the panelists “because of the opportunities I wouldn’t otherwise have had.”
Jarian Kerekes, member of the NCAN Board of Directors and Head of Social Impact at Equitable and President of the Equitable Foundation, moderated the panel comprised of:
Elexis Fisher, an alumna of Uplift Education and 2023 graduate of Emory University.
Jordy Mendoza, an alumnus of OneGoal and 2022 graduate of the University of Houston.
Kerekes’ questions began with a familiar theme; students’ postsecondary pathways are often fraught and dependent on removing obstacles while obtaining key resources like guidance and financial aid. “When did you know that you could get there?” he asked
of the panelists.
Jordy Mendoza noted that, when he started high school, he “wasn’t sure what he wanted to do…it is hard when you’re 14 or 15 to know what you want to do after high school.” He added, “When you’re first generation and don’t have that support you need to
go to college, you don’t know how it works…It’s helpful to have a mentor or teacher who can help you throughout.”
By contrast, “In 9th grade, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to go to college,’” Fisher explained, but she was also keeping each year in front of her. During her junior year, Fisher was exploring colleges, building college lists, and exploring them. Although
she mostly sent applications to Texas schools, she also applied to two out-of-state schools. As May 1 loomed, she knew she had to decide.
“I didn’t really expect to leave home,” said Elexis Fisher. “Texas students don’t really leave Texas, but I wanted to explore out of my comfort zone.” Her story is one that will be familiar to many NCAN members and the students they serve: ”My family
members left, but they always came back,” said Fisher, who is now an Alumni Success Coordinator at Uplift Education’s Road to College and Career program. “Now that I’m an alumni counselor, some of our students are like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to leave
Texas. Where am I going? Let’s explore.’ but I didn’t know how to explore.” Ultimately a campus visit to her eventual destination, Emory University, helped make the decision: “The feeling now of that new place is very important, and the stress and
the scary can overshadow the happy and the joy…[A]t Emory I was happy. I was comfortable. I wasn’t stressed about the how’s and the what’s.”
As she was coming closer to the end of high school, Cadence Banks realized, “Oh, college is that next step.” Coming from a family with a first-generation student mother and two other children, Banks wondered how she was going to do this. Her college advisors
shared their own experiences and discussed how to apply for grant aid. Through these discussions, Banks realized, “Oh, this is something everyone goes through. This is universal.” She added, “Every single person deserves access to higher education.”
Like every other student in their generation, the COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted our panelists and required them to find ways to practice self-care and persist with their studies. Banks explained how she and her friends would host, “Zoom dance parties…yeah
we’re not ‘together, together’ but we’re dancing together. Hands down that was the best experience during the pandemic.” Moments like that made her realize that, “things things seem really hard right now, but I can guarantee we’ll be together again.”
For his own decompression, Mendoza would volunteer at the Houston Humane Society.
Back on-campus, Fisher found solace in her “crazy, goofy” friend group but also took advantage of activities provided on-campus, which she recommended to other students. “I encourage every student to do all these activities and events. Show up, get involved.
It’s how you will feel welcomed.”
All three panelists discussed how the NCAN members they worked with helped them identify a professional direction. For example, Mendoza always liked research, and OneGoal gave him the chance to do more of it. He is currently earning his master's in business
administration in project management while working as a Clinical Research Coordinator for the Department of Urology at Houston Methodist Hospital.
Prior to joining Uplift as a full-time staff member, Fisher was a Road to College & Career intern providing valuable assistance to Uplift's college counselor and career
teams and able to explore different aspects of Uplift’s work. Her hope in the future is to have her own center and to eventually come back to an NCAN conference, “happy, helping students, putting a smile on their face, and I will figure it out for
you guys.”
Banks described how the Academic Success Program helped her identify what her career path could look like. A false start with biology and some exploration into what made her happy pointed Banks toward researching dance programs and ways to have a career
in dance. Banks hopes to use her degree to open her own dance company with a community outreach program to bring the arts into underprivileged and underrepresented communities.
Like last year’s student voice plenary, this year’s panelists were by equal measure insightful and inspiring. Their experiences represent those of millions of students served
by NCAN members across the country and the many more millions who could benefit from even more college and career advising than that to which they currently have access. NCAN will continue to lift up student voices, at conference and beyond, to hear
about students’ needs and vision for our field and the impact that members have on students’ lives.
Email to a Friend