Sometimes a Student Needs a Road Map

By Catherine (Cas) Dunlap  |  Halcyon True North

 

When we talk about helping young people pursue an education, the conversation often begins with money.

Tuition. Scholarships. Grants. Student loans.

Those things matter tremendously. But after working with young people through Halcyon True North, I have become increasingly convinced that we sometimes ask the wrong first question.

Instead of asking, “How will this student pay for college?” perhaps we should first ask: “What is actually standing between this young person and the future they are capable of building?”

The answer is not always tuition. Sometimes it is a car repair. Sometimes it is rent. Sometimes it is childcare. Sometimes it’s the parttime job taking place when the class is being taught.  Sometimes it is a student working so many hours to survive that completing a full academic schedule becomes nearly impossible. And sometimes the obstacle costs absolutely nothing. Sometimes a student simply does not know what to do next.

Potential Does Not Come With a Road Map

I grew up as the second of ten children. We did not have much, but education mattered in our family, and I learned early that there was a path forward if you were willing to work for it.

I was also persistent. If I did not know how to do something, I usually figured it out. If someone told me no, I had a tendency to ask another question. It took me years to appreciate what an advantage that was.

What happens to the equally talented student who is timid? What happens when she accepts the first no from the financial-aid office? What happens when he does not know which question to ask next? Potential and ambition do not automatically come with instructions. That realization became one of the foundations of Halcyon True North.

The Young Woman Who Did Not Think College Was Possible

Several years ago, I met a teenage girl while taking trash to the dumpster behind my office. She was helping her mother clean a neighboring office. We talked briefly, and over time those conversations became a regular occurrence.

She was a straight-A student. She also did not believe she could attend Northern Virginia Community College. Her academic ability was not the obstacle. Her perception of what was possible was.

We began talking about college, financial aid, grants, counselors, and careers. I wanted to stay connected with her, so I eventually hired her mother to clean my office even though I did not particularly need a cleaning service.

When Halcyon True North received its first charitable contribution, we used it to pay for her first semester at NOVA. She excelled, but the grade report was not the part that mattered most to me. Her confidence changed. She began asking questions, learned how to advocate for herself, and stopped treating the first no as the end of the conversation..

Eventually she came to me with a plan. She wanted to join the National Guard and become a Military Police Soldier. Then she told me something I will never forget: she did not want any more financial assistance from Halcyon True North. The Army could help pay for her education, she said. She wanted our money to help someone else. That was the moment I knew the model worked.

Help Should Create Independence and Generosity

The purpose of helping someone should not be to make that person increasingly dependent upon your help. The goal should be exactly the opposite.

Give someone enough stability to get moving. Share enough information that the system becomes understandable. Provide encouragement long enough for confidence to develop. Open a door when you can. Then watch what happens.

The young woman who once doubted she could attend NOVA completed Military Police training at Fort Leonard Wood. She enrolled at George Mason University. She completed a deployment to Guantanamo Bay. She is now a junior and has applied to the United States Secret Service.

Halcyon True North cannot – and should not – take credit for those accomplishments. She earned them. Our role was smaller, but important. We helped her see a path.

We also hope the people we assist carry something forward: a readiness to share their knowledge, encouragement, or opportunity with the next person who needs direction. The strongest measure of help is not simply that one person advances, but that the path becomes easier for someone behind them.

Education Happens While Life Keeps Happening

There is a misconception that if someone wants an education badly enough, surely there is a scholarship, grant, or loan somewhere that can solve the problem. Sometimes there is. But tuition is not the only bill.

Students still need somewhere to live. They need transportation. They buy groceries. They pay insurance and utilities. Some support children or other family members. A student can receive tuition assistance and still be one unexpected expense away from leaving school.

 

That is why our vision for Halcyon True North extends beyond traditional scholarships. We want to address practical obstacles when we can. But we also want to build something potentially even more valuable: a community of people willing to share what they already know.

Businesses Have Something Powerful to Offer

Imagine what could happen if more businesses invited students inside their doors – not simply for jobs, but for exposure.

Let a teenager spend an afternoon with an engineer. Let someone interested in construction walk a jobsite with a project manager. Let a student interested in cybersecurity sit with someone who actually works in the field. Let an aspiring entrepreneur talk to someone who has built a company.

Let a young person who has never known anyone in a particular profession suddenly know one person. That matters.

Mentoring, internships, workplace visits, introductions, and honest conversations about careers can expand a young person’s understanding of what is possible. Unlike many of the problems facing education, those are things our business community can begin doing today.

Finding True North

To date, Halcyon True North has helped five young people in Prince William and Stafford Counties. We want to help many more.

We are raising funds and building programs, but I am less interested in announcing an impressive number of students served than I am in knowing that the assistance we provided actually changed something.

Success is not creating a young person who needs us forever. Success is the day that young person looks at us and says, “I know where I am going now. I have it from here.” Even better is the day that person turns to someone else and says, “Let me help you find your way.”

That is Halcyon True North.