Being a 'sherpa' can make a difference
What happens when high school graduates miss college application deadlines? Or take the ACT without coaching? What if their financial aid runs out – just a few credits short of a degree – because they needed too many remedial classes their freshman year?
Many students are lucky enough to have a parent, counselor, or work colleague to guide them around these potential obstacles, which the Student Voice Team of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence called “education tripwires.” While almost invisible to the people who successfully step over them, these “trip points” can be catastrophic to those who get caught in the snare.
Sadly, African American students are more likely than white students to get tripped up. In Louisville, 47.5 percent of white adults hold a college degree, compared to only 25.6 percent of African-American adults.
Too often, because of a host of societal and structural barriers that they had nothing to do with, they arrive at college with less rigorous high school transcripts, with fewer mentors advising them and with fewer financial resources to smooth out the rough patches.
Among JCPS graduates, there is a 32 percent gap between African-American and white students who graduate College/Career Ready. Unfortunately, this often results in college degrees being abandoned before they are completed.
Louisville’s 15K Degrees movement is working to change that. Allied with 55,000 Degrees, our name is our goal – for 15,000 more African Americans in Louisville to hold postsecondary degrees by 2020. Our mission, rooted in the bedrock American value of equal opportunity, is to guide young people on a path that will allow them to travel as far as their talent and ambition will take them.
This a life-changing mission. Over the course of a lifetime, a college degree can mean a million dollars more in wages. By 2020, 62 percent of Kentucky jobs will require a postsecondary credential. And those that don’t? Well, even today, they usually don’t pay a living wage. Each college degree earned in our community allows another family to experience expanded opportunity, both now and for future generations.
Navigating through the tripwires is easier with a guide. Most of us who graduated from college got some help along the way. For many people, it came from a college-educated parent. For first-generation college students, it might have been a Sunday school teacher, a school counselor or a friend at work. Mentors are the people who help students figure out the right college major, brainstorm with them about what to do when a required class is full and maybe even send “care packages” on finals week!
This is work that starts in high school – nudging students into more challenging classes to better prepare them for college. It continues through the grueling college application process. It includes taking a call when they’re having a low moment, giving them hope when they want to give up.
On our website, we seek volunteers to serve as “sherpas.” Named after the famed Himalayan people who lead and assist mountain climbers, these volunteers guide young Louisvillians climbing toward a better future.
As with any great journey, we know the path to a college education is sometimes winding and filled with obstacles.
There are moments with great views, but often all you can see is a rockier path ahead. Some of us are well-prepared for the trek. Others will struggle. A guide, a Sherpa, can make the difference. Won’t you join 15K Degrees to stand up to make a difference in a young person’s life? By helping one person, you will be helping build a more equitable nation – and a better Louisville!
Learn more today at: http://www.15kdegrees.org.