“I didn’t really know what I was getting into.”
It was Waverly Reyes’ first day at the Trinity University Upward Bound program, a college preparatory program for first-generation, low-income students interested in pursuing postsecondary studies. At Upward Bound, Reyes attended academic sessions throughout the school year and a six-week summer component, receiving support and advice from tutors, teachers, and advisors. “I learned that there was competition everywhere [and] everybody was looking at you… looking at what you’re doing,” Reyes says.
In a speech class, Reyes faced competition from her overachieving friends. Reyes, who is naturally passionate and bubbly, at first was hesitant to ask for advice from her teacher. But after her class, she grew confident enough to speak up for herself. “You’re the only one who can outshine everybody else. Nobody is gonna do it for you,” Reyes says. “No one is gonna make you shine more than everybody else. You have to make sure that you know what materials you need to make yourself shine.”
Waverly, and many other students like her in the Upward Bound Program, learned through classes and advising sessions that are meant to help them in not just in high school, but their future college career, too. One of those students, Maria Olalde, says the program creates valuable mentorship relationships. “Upward Bound provided me with great mentors,” Olalde says, emphasizing how she “was always in awe of how intelligent, compassionate, and confident my tutors had been.”
Simone Carnegie-Diaz, Upward Bound director since 2006, manages the program’s tutors and is central to matching tutors with teachers. Carnegie-Diaz says many of her Upward Bound alumni come back to serve as tutors, teachers, and assistants. “Seeing all of my alumni come back and seeing them care about the program and wanting to make it better, that has been a really great experience that’s really enriching,” Carnegie-Diaz says.
Olalde even returned to the Upward Bound program to serve as a tutor herself. “Self-advocacy is the greatest lesson I learned from the program,” Olalde says. “I pride myself in being someone who is actively seeking new opportunities for myself and community.”
Year after year, Upward Bound graduates return to serve as tutors and mentors throughout the summer and school year. Tutors like Olalde, time and time again, express that becoming a tutor has “been a decision [they] have not once regretted and a decision that has shaped [their] educational and professional career.”
Upward Bound isn’t just a program for first-generation and low-income students, it is a family that helps its members grow in many aspects of their lives, notes Olalde. “Upward Bound was more than an academic and college preparatory program,” Olalde says. “It is a program that helps you grow as a student, as a professional, and as a person.”