The Unseen Struggles of Low-Income Students and How Mentorship Offers a Path Forward

[0:16]  Welcome back to another episode here on the Hardnounster Podcast. It never gets old. We have always some tremendous leaders throughout the United States that are really changing the perspective of their own communities. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know, and the resources are right there for you. So today we have Miss Kara, like Sarah, that's how I gotta remember it, in the building. Miss Kara, where are you where you in from? Where in the United States are you from?

[0:40]  Yeah, I'm coming from the San Francisco Bay Area. Happy to be here today. Thanks. No, no, I am from the East Coast. Yeah, in central New York. So put a pin in the middle of the state and that's where I'm from.

[0:50]  Okay. Born and raised? East Coast? Where? Okay. So how would you feeling about New York's winning? Were were you excited about that? Or did you not care? You don't watch basketball or

[1:01]  Yeah, I mean, my family loves basketball. They were super excited. I you know, I'm yeah, I mean, yay, yay, glad for them, but yeah.

[1:07]  Could care less. How long have you been in San Francisco now?

[1:14]  so it's been about twenty five years.

[1:18]  so you love San Francisco?

[1:21]  I'm sorry. I don't live in San Francisco. I live in the Bay Area, but I've been there for about I've been in here in the Bay Area for about twenty five years.

[1:30]  So you must love it.

[1:32]  I do. I love it. It's great. It's a great place to sleep. No. No.

[1:36]  Yeah, yeah. Twenty five years, you're not going nowhere. Raise your kids there, right? Is that w that's true? Right? I think you said your kids are

[1:41]  Yeah. Yeah. My kids were raised and born and raised. and we've thought about leaving, but always there's just no place like it. So

[1:50]  Yeah, and then also this organization that you're a part of. What is the organization that you're you're representing today?

[1:55]  So I work for the Peninsula College Fund. We are a college success program for first-gen low-income students that are coming from the San Francisco Bay Area.

[2:06]  What brought you into that lane of one nonprofits where there's not a lot of money b to be made? But there is that purpose, there is that passion that people have to and that's usually why they stay in these nonprofit sectors. What brought you to it? What keeps you there?

[2:19]  Yeah, so I'm a first gen, I'm actually first gen and low income student myself. So when I was going to college certainly no expectation in my family that I would go to college. and so the mission to me is just so vitally important. I think everybody deserves that opportunity. And I'm really dedicated and passionate about making sure that everyone has access and to college and then can be successful while they're there.

[2:40]  B. Loving, you're talking about you're a first gen student. How far did you go on your college college trip?

[3:01]  Yeah, so I got my undergrad. I started out at a school that I wasn't super happy to be at, but I got a full ride there and just always felt felt like okay, I can do more, I can do more. So I transferred and it was my dream school. I was so happy to be there, but completely felt like an outsider, felt had crazy, almost crippling imposter syndrome while I was there. It took me most of my college career to get over it. But but yeah, I mean it was truly life altering and truly transformative.

[3:22]  Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Do you think it was difficult just due to life happening, life what it was prior to then really trying to find yourself in a new environment? Is that what it was?

[3:43]  There's so many things. and and you'll hear echoes of this, you know, when we're talking about the students that I'm serving. But there's so many things. I mean, it was not only the financial strain of going to college and not really having the funds to do that. right, I would walk into the bookstore to buy my books and I would be panicked because I it was books or rent, books or food. so that kind of, you know, just anxiety hits you really hard when you're a low income student. But also I think,

[3:56]  Mm-hmm.

[4:09]  not understanding what college was all about and not understanding what the resources were that were available or were not available to me, and wishing that there were better structures in place. These were all things that I struggled with, right? I didn't want to raise my hand because I didn't want to be snuffed out as like, you don't belong here. And that's what I was so afraid people would see when they heard me talk or heard me respond. I thought that they could see my insecurities. so it was, yeah, it was just hard. It was hard being around among people who deserve to be there, understood they they should be there, you know, held themselves with pride and and had this you just belief system.

[4:31]  Mm-hmm. Yeah.

[4:54]  some ingrained in them from very young ages that I never had. so I had to I felt like I had to fight for it, you know, fight for my own like sense of belonging while I was there.

[5:01]  Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. How long have you been doing this now?

[5:09]  So I've been with the Peninsula College Fund for about six year going on six years. I think though, if I think about, you know, my trajectory, I have always been interested in working towards education and sort of helping people and helping, you know, build the systems for college access or just education access in general.

[5:31]  What were you doing prior to getting to this organization? Still in the nonprofit?

[5:36]  so I mean lots of things. I worked in ed tech when I came out of college, was doing working in some startups and really exciting time to be, you know, working and and living. But then I took a pretty long career pause to raise my family. That was always something that was super important to me because I had grown up as a in a single family household. My mom worked multiple jobs and really couldn't give me the things that I had wanted, right? To show up for my sporting events and to be, you know, there for my chorus concerts and things like that. And so I always felt like, okay, this is what I'm gonna do for my kids. So I took that pause, so happy I did it.

[5:59]  Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. How many years? How many years? How many years did you pause for?

[6:22]  But I'm a little embarrassed to admit it was more than almost twenty twenty years I took a book. Yeah.

[6:29]  Wow. I I don't think that should you should be, Kara. And I'll tell you why. My if anything, I need to have you talk to my wife. My wife's now been doing this for five years. And she just talks about how hard it is. And I would say that I'm very blessed that I get to do this from home and I've created, you know, the opportunity for us to even be able to do this. because very similar to you, I my mom has seven kids, you know, and she we didn't have a lot. You know, and when you talk about not showing up, that's how I felt. I felt that, you know, why didn't she show up to chorus? I was a chorus kid. Why didn't she show up to these things and all and now as an adult realizing she she didn't have the time, you know, she she had to work two jobs. She, it was just seven different kids. How the heck do you show up everywhere, you know, all the time? So being able to live the life and when when my wife came to me, I tell you, she says, Hey, I just want to be able to do this for a year and stay at home. And I was, I was an on I've been an entrepreneur my whole life, but at that moment I was partial into corporate and then partial into my own thing, but I was broke. And I told her when she told me that I'm like, okay, you know, like, sure. But in my mind, I'm like, how do we make this happen? We left it in God's hands. God's God has really taken care of us. We have now two kids, a two and a five. She's been at home. She's also homeschooling the kids.

[6:29]  Yeah.

[7:51]  As well. So she's really putting in a lot of work, different times, right? To just kind of send your kids anywhere and everywhere. What's happening at this level? and so I respect you, and you should never feel embarrassed because I always say to her, the sacrifice that you guys make, and I can imagine your kids are probably showcasing this now, but your kids will will appreciate it, you know, and I appreciate you doing that. It is not an easy task. It is on 247. Right? You're on 24 seven. so no, don't feel embarrassed. I actually praise people like you that were willing to sacrifice your career, your life to make sure that you were able to give to your kids something you didn't experience. And I think that's huge. So anyway, just wanted to give your flowers on that. Kudos to you. Kudos.

[8:56]  Truly. Thank you. It wasn't easy. there were lot of tough times, right? Staying home is not it's it is a job, but you're just not being rewarded and paid for it like you would if you were out working. so there was a lot of, you know, my own again, insecurities that I had to sort of get over. I just quick story. I once went to this networking event probably ten, maybe fifteen years into being a stay-at-home parent when I was starting to think about, you know, what am I gonna do? And now that I'm I'm thinking about going back to work. And I remember I met this really wonderful woman who asked me, So what do you do? And you know, that question is always like, it just kind of hurts right there when you have to say, Well, I'm I'm right now I'm pausing my career so I can raise my family. And I remember she said, Just as long as it's not for longer than you were working. And I did that math, that mental math, and I was like, Well. Kind of is longer than I've been working, but that's okay. you learn along the way that there are a lot of transferable skills. And so as long as you are doing things that have mean mean something to you, and I was, I was volunteering, I was, I had joined several boards. I think those those are easily transferable skills. and hopefully your wife can find things that she cares about too that mean something to her, especially as the kids get older. and she can translate them into really anything she wants.

[10:02]  Yeah, we we've been really battling on getting her out the house. Go find something that you could commit to, you know, because a lot of the times she doesn't even get out the house, right? Like you you get away from the kids maybe 30 minutes, you know, if that. and I had a friend recently told me that's also mom and she says, but also working. She says, E friend, I had breakfast by myself on my birthday, 'cause all I wanted. And she I just sat there and smiled to myself. Because realizing I haven't had breakfast by myself in a very long time without someone picking at my plate. And at that moment, it really made me think about my wife and her not having that space, right? She doesn't go to a part-time job. She doesn't like, so we're really trying to find that space for her to be able to just get away for a little bit. You know, the mental could imagine was very a lot for you. You just mentioned all these different feelings that you may have, have felt throughout it. And and some of them were just you, right? It kind of almost in sometimes in your own way, but it was also what life was bringing to you at that moment. seeing things around you, probably having friends that were doing all these things, and you're like, I would say was it hard for you? 'cause my wife says it's always hard to know that I've given everything up, you know, that financial, you know, I gotta kind of go back to my husband and says, Hey, can you kind of load me back up? Was that hard?

[11:26]  Right. Yeah. I mean, it was certainly hard. and it's definitely a negotiation, right? In your in your marriage, your relationship. You're always constantly trying to figure out like how can I get what I need? How do I make sure he gets what he needs and the kids get what they need. So yeah, it's hard. You it's a negotiation. You're not you're you're always navigating it.

[11:45]  Ha ha. I love it. So what what do you think you talked about being a stay home mom and everything you learned. I think there was a lot of learned patience. There's a lot of leadership qualities that were probably taught within that or learned within that. What is your kids teaching you when it comes to leadership that you feel that you're now being able to utilize in what you're doing today?

[12:04]  Yeah, I mean patience, obviously. I I also think there's a quality that you get from being a pa just a parent in general, right? About you you learn that, you know, there's just there's wisdom in your life experience and there's your kids don't want to hear it. They'll grow they'll at a certain point, you know, they'll tell you like, you don't know anything, mom, or you don't know anything, dad. Right. but the truth is you do.

[12:04]  man.

[12:29]  The truth is you've you've gained all this experience and all this knowledge and you have so much to give. and that's really kind of where I landed when I ended up going back to work. I I just felt like, okay, I actually do have a lot to contribute. I am really smart. I put myself through college. I did it without any support, you know, from my financial support from my family. I did it. And that is one of the things that I'm most proud of in my life. And so I know that I can go back to work or I know that I can like. I've I've learned these things from my kids and and I'm I'm able to take that and translate that and pivot and do something really great with these next you know, this in this next phase of my life. So

[13:12]  I I'm just I'm proud of you too, to be quite frank. You know, like I we've this second time talking, but I think I told you that I'm adopted. So when I think about my own story, you could easily gave up and you didn't. You know what I mean? Like, how cool is that that your kids would realize mom never gave up. And now when they get to become parents and come adults, I think that's when it comes back to you realizing like, mom really put in that work. So yeah, just I am very proud and when I look at people, women especially because of my own experiences that could have gave up like when life was getting hard and continued. And like you said, here I am now. You're you're obviously a leader in this organization and really painting a different picture for those that thought they'd never had the opportunity. What does it look like for those individuals that are are seeking opportunity? Like, is it they're going to a website? Are you guys into the schools? Like, how does this all kind of come together?

[14:08]  Yeah, so we we reach students in a variety of ways. So we c we come to them right when they're graduating from high school. So as seniors in high school. and we're going into the high schools, we're sharing out about our program, we're reaching out to other kind of college access programs. Boys and Girls Club is one that we have great relationships with, things like that, where students are, you know, just trying to get through high school, maybe they get some college advising services, and we're really talking to those college advisors about what we do so they can share our program with with students who might fit our criteria.

[14:27]  Love it. And how many kids are you guys helping and assisting throughout a year, school year?

[14:47]  so it will obviously it will be very, it will vary based on funding, which is you know kind of hard to accept, but that's just the reality of the work we do. this year we accepted 30 students, but just to put it in perspective, we had over 200 applications for the program. that were completed and there were more than 600 applications that were started. So the need is there, the need is very, very strong, but we can only accept a certain number of students. So that's always one of the challenges that we face.

[15:24]  These thirty students that you said got through and and awarded, I'm guessing is it scholarships, is it full rise? Like what does it actually look like?

[15:31]  Yeah, so we give them a renewable scholarship. It's not enough. I'll tell you that. It's not very much money, but it is a little bit that we hope helps fill some of their gap. and then they'll get paired with a mentor, they will get college and cur career success training, and then they will also get support to land an internship, which is part of what we think will help them get a job after college.

[15:55]  Yeah. How long is this old how old is the organization?

[15:57]  Yeah, we just turned twenty. We just had our twentieth anniversary. Yeah.

[15:59]  Okay. Okay. Still young. Still young in the yeah, yeah. Still a lot of room to to to grow. when you talked about not enough dollars, is it because what's happening at the level of just government and funding? Or are you guys is that what solely you guys were I guess how you're receiving your funds? Are you guys pivoting now to say, Hey, we got to get more into the community for those maybe alumni's and all that? Like Where were you guys on that?

[16:30]  Yeah, so we don't get any funding, we don't get any federal funding. which certainly that's helped us in the time period that we're in right now. However, a lot of our funders, you know, we do have some institutional funders, some some big family foundations, and they really had to sort of adjust their priorities because they didn't want to get targeted, right? So so we, you know, we've had to just tow this very careful line between

[16:43]  Mm-hmm.

[16:57]  how we talk about what we do, especially because we serve, you know, the minority or the majority of the students we serve are coming from diverse backgrounds. And so we just have to be so careful about how we talk about it and and what we are what we are doing. But most of our our funding is coming from individuals and it's coming from those large family foundations, those institutional foundations.

[17:27]  Love it. And and this is only for students in the Bay Area?

[17:30]  Yeah, so we're serving two counties. Students are coming from two counties in the Bay Area, but they could be going to college anywhere. So we have students c across the country going to college. We've got students going to HBCs, we've got students going to, you know, elite private schools on the East Coast. It just will vary depending on kind of what how they've been advised and where they where they've gotten accepted and where they can afford to go to college too.

[17:56]  Got it. And and have I'm guessing if I go to the website, is there more information for those that are probably just listening, whether video or audio, can I go on the website and find a lot of this th stuff on the website? Is that how kind of communication happens?

[18:14]  You can. Yeah, definitely you can. but a lot of our recruiting for the students actually just happens at the time when we're recruiting those students. So we recruit in the fall and the early, early spring for the upcoming year. And so we will make those announcements and open up our application at that time. And that's when you'll really see all that information. It's on our website, but you know, a link to apply would not be available until

[18:32]  Mm. What does the work look like in between someone, as you mentioned, opening up enrollment and then I'm guessing you guys may pass out these applications at the end of the school year? Is that correct?

[19:18]  Yeah, well they appl they will apply starting in November through February. we have a pretty rigorous application process. They they will apply, we'll review their application to make sure make sure that they meet the criteria. Primarily we're looking for a GPA, a certain GPA. We're looking for the fact that they're low income, so we have to verify their income. and and then they have to be headed to college, and it can be a four-year or a two-year college. But then they get interviewed. So we bring in volunteers from the community to read the applications, help us score the applications, right? Because we're a small team, we can't do that for 200 students. So we bring in volunteers. a lot of our cour supporters will do this over and over and over again because they love this is, you know, just a really meaningful way to contribute. And then we will accept our students in April, May. And then we just had a big weekend of events for our incoming students and our outgoing seniors who just graduated. This past weekend we just did a ton of training for the incoming students to sort of get them prepared, community building. And then for our outgoing students, we did a big graduation ceremony where they get a special gift and we celebrate them with our community and volunteers.

[20:04]  How many students are coming in? How many students are getting out coming out?

[20:08]  Yeah, so we just graduated our largest class between May and June. There were over 50 students who graduated from college, which is huge. We had we happened to have a really great funding year that year. So we were able to accept a lot of students. but the reality is that only 21% of students nationally who are first gen will graduate from college within six years. So that's a really low, like staggeringly low. percentage of students who are graduating. So for us, our our rate, we graduate about 84% of students within six years. So we're really proud of that because it's not just about, you know, the the dollars that we can give them. It really is about that support that we're providing them that helps keep them in college. But incoming class we have about 30 students. So again, that's just based on the funding that we had.

[20:37]  Mm-hmm.

[21:06]  particular year and how many students we could accept.

[21:10]  Are you guys tapping into those alumni groups? I guess to kind of come back whether volunteer or say, hey, maybe provide that legacy scholarship. I know me being a part of the high school, we're always looking for those past people. It's like, you know, you guys become because organizations like yourself would help these kids really see past their own backyards, right? And allow them to know what's kind of out there. that it's always cool to have those stories come back, but also to to give back. Are you guys tapping into that?

[21:28]  Definitely. We have a a large and growing alumni network of students who, you know, former students who've graduated and now feel like they can contribute. So we tap into them in a variety of ways. Certainly they become volunteers for our program and they read applications and they score interviews and they interview students. they also become mentors. So for us, a mentor is a really big commitment. It's we ask a mentor to volunteer and work with a student throughout undergrad.

[21:46]  Mm-hmm.

[22:04]  And like I said, that could be four, six years. I have a student who's graduating. It's she's going on her ninth year. you know, that takes a lot of patience and dedications and persistence to stick with it at for that long. So a lot of our alumni are coming back and supporting our students as mentors. and then of course, certainly we're asking them to contribute financially because we think

[22:06]  Yeah.

[22:27]  You know, it's a really meaningful way. And and we know that from hearing from them, we know that they want to do this. They want to support us because they know how much we supported them. and that's one of the ways I think, you know, we we continue to grow and evolve is by tapping into this network of alumni because they have ideas too about how how should we be serving the students. They were there, they did it, they know what's got what goes on. and so it's really important for us to bring them onto our board, and to stay connected to them, have our

[22:29]  Yeah.

[22:59]  them join our committees so that they can contribute in meaningful ways.

[23:03]  I love it. Yeah. I mean, the data, you know, just all the data that you're talking about kind of shows why this is so important, why funding is so important. really use this almost every podcast, but it's so true, really fertilizing the future. because you know, one of the stories that I heard, Kara was I had a mom that was also a first gen student go to school. Her parents obviously just didn't have the funds to go to school themselves. They were, you know, living in poverty, all these different things. But as that daughter went on to school, mom realized it's possible. Mom is now at her bachelor's degree at 60 years old and wanting to go for her master's. Not that she needed in the life, but that what fertilizing the future looks like. You don't just impact that one person, you impact their family. You impact their kids. You know, you so it it is really cool on what you're doing, but also what you're doing for others and that what others are doing for others. It's such such a trickle effect. So Pretty cool that 20 years in, you guys clearly have a huge graduating class of of you know alumni and data that you could really start to tap into. So you mentioned how government funding is not where our our scope is at. It's more of of help getting those people that were already a part of the system, you know, and and how do we utilize that talent? because there is a lot of talent in those people. you yourself, you know, someone that didn't have much, but your talent now was compared to who it used to be. Nothing that you had a lot of talent, just how how

[24:18]  Yeah. A lot.

[24:27]  getting it out of us per se. But yeah, man, kudos to you. How do you communicate a lot of these things? you know, it's in a space right now where innovation is is everything and a lot of the conversation happening on your phone, how are we communicating to alumni? How are we communicating to those that are in the system, receiving those scholarships?

[24:45]  Yeah, I mean that's a big challenge, right? I've heard some of your previous guests who've talked about in higher the higher ed space, right? And it's all about engagement. and I think that's true for us as well. A, we rely on texting a lot. It's just the platform, you know, they the students text, they that's how they communicate with one another, and that's how we have to communicate with them. So we get really good at keep like

[24:56]  Mm-hmm. Love it.

[25:07]  making very short, concise messages, right? Yes, no qu kind of kind of texts. but in addition to that, you know, we we are really good about sending out I think the key is that we have to s when we send out information has to be really impactful. So we have a newsletter that we send out to our current students about with internship opportunities. And we have a tremendously high click rate for that newsletter because they know that these are opportunities that they have a good shot of getting. because either there are connections that we've made with local organizations or local businesses or they're being offered by, you know, some of our our network.

[25:27]  Mm-hmm.

[25:48]  and that's one of the beauty, the beautiful things about the the you know, the volunteer kind of trajectory that we have is they can offer these opportunities for students. So I think it's it just has to be really impactful for them. If we're gonna get them to engage with us, then we need to make sure that it actually matters. and that's what we do.

[26:00]  Yeah. Cause, you know, attention span is crazy nowadays. I was out my my co-host, he was showing me something and within the first like fifteen seconds, I'm sitting here like cr I'm it's cringe, right? It was just so much fluff. It was and I'm watching a video and cause I do a lot of content, I realized the I can make a minute video.

[26:13]  There isn't.

[26:31]  And my demographics is somewhere between like 22 to 45. The average watch time on a minute video would be somewhere between 17 seconds to 22 seconds. And I always fight like, damn, how do I get them to watch more of this video? You got to be really good at the storytelling aspect of it and give them something that they care about. because man, our phones, social media, like there's so much people or things that are trying to grab your attention. How do you break through the noise? so it looks like you guys are really doing it. And at least SMS, that's actually the way that we meet people are where they're at nowadays. Who's really taking their email? Are you texting or are emailing? Which one are you doing first?

[27:10]  so for me personally, I mean I'm emailing, but you know, the text works probably is more effective for sure.

[27:18]  Yeah. I have one of my board members, and I don't understand why he does this to me. He would always email me like it's a text message. And then I'm like, why don't you just text me? Cause now I'm gonna forget to email you back, or it's and I would email him the same way that I'm texting. And sometimes he'll email me and I'll text him, like, sir, just text me. Like, what are you emailing me for? so yeah, definitely different times, right? Of what how we communicate with people, but meeting people are there isn't so important. So I love that you guys kind of got into that space.

[27:37]  Yeah. Yeah.

[27:48]  As we start wrapping up, what do you want to see for this organization? You clearly love, you have a passion for this. there's a lot of hard work you you've put in. What do you want to see by the time that you decide to kind of hang it all up?

[28:00]  That's a great question. you know, there's so many things that that I feel like we don't have, right? You we're resource-constrained environment. We we are constantly trying to just throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. What I would love to see is a Having a really strong understanding of what the students are facing and then being able to address those needs, you know, having the funding, right? Like we know that AI is come is here. We know that not only do students need to know how to navigate the world of AI to be successful in their post-college careers, but they they need to know how to use it just to be efficient and to be effective in the world, in their everyday life. And so I think for us, I'd love us to have, you know, just Know how we are going to teach them to use AI, know how we are going to use AI so that we can address that with them. I'd love that. I'd love to be able to provide I'd you know, mental health services. There's so many like gaps in our programming that we just it's, you know, maybe whether it's mission creep or what, like I do I would just love to be able to say here's all the comprehensive suite of services that we can provide for you. because we have this funder who cares deeply about X, Y, or Z, right? yeah, those are some things for sure that I wish and hope that we get to a place where we can

[28:19]  Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Are you using AI today?

[28:39]  Not well enough. I mean we are, we are, but I think very minimally and and we definitely need to be using it more, you know, to to make impact.

[28:59]  No It is, I I think I told you I run a nonprofit for the whole school. It is and everyone on my board is obviously probably in their 50s or 60s and realizing that I have to teach this, you know. But I there's a lot of things to teach. There's the Google Drive aspect because they probably were in the school system and only use Teams. but I love that you said, Hey, I understand that it's helpful if someone is willing to teach me it, you know, or it give me those resources. Looks like you're down to kind of learn it. but yeah, I I didn't realize AI has really been around for a long time when we think about it. It's just now I think the word is being the sexy word has kind of been thrown around. But it is how do we use it? How do we put Godrails around it? How do we make this safe for our our own teams, internal and external, and and teach it at a different level? I'm actually very surprised that at least in my district and we have one of the biggest districts here in Florida, that They actually blocked this out of high schools, you know, because I just was speaking to a parent and she's like, Yeah, they had like a Spanish test, and their daughter said, Hey, mom, I use Chat GPT. So they're using it, but are we teaching them how to use it correctly? And I think it's a disservice if we're blocking it out at the high school levels because people are gonna go to college. I can imagine there's probably already curriculums around it in the college level.

[29:19]  Yeah. Exactly.

[30:57]  So what are we really doing to prepare them? And it looks like you guys are ahead of the game and says, how do we prepare these students that are going to college? We have to have those resources and have everything needed for them. Because if schools are not doing it at the high school level, they're going to have some tough, tough times at a college level. so kudos to you even thinking that far for sure. I can imagine your kids are using AI, right? Yeah.

[32:37]  for sure. A thousand percent. I mean, they're way more advanced at it than I am. You know, I'm typing the basic questions and they're using it as an agent to actually like cre create this idea of of of building expertise. yeah.

[34:17]  I love it. I went to my mom's house and we showed her we're trying to redo our backyard. So we took a picture and we says, hey, this what we want. And we showed my mom that she's like, my god. And she's just starting to like see like the how cool it is. The first time I asked her, hey, mom using AI, and she's like, What is that? I'm like, my God. And my mom's not that old. Okay. And I'm like, Ma, you can't. And she's in the healthcare industry. So it's like, are you shitting me? Like, what do you mean you don't know what this is? But there's some people that just not willing to learn it. But there's people that when they start to really learn it, I remember this one person actually, she was so scared of using it. No, no, no, no AI. I spent maybe 20 minutes with her. And at the end of it, she's like, I can't stop using it. So kud kudos to you. I I do want to as we start to really end this year. I am first gen student. However, I still got two classes left again. Associates, I didn't finish. I am that guy is gonna take a lot of years to do it. But you're also a first gen student.

[34:40]  Okay. Yeah.

[34:40]  And I think that it's so cool for both of us to be at this side of the table and let people know that may not be they don't know it's possible, right? When I think of representation, it's not the color of our skin, but it's really the story that we tell and how we got here. So can you just kind of leave us with some words of encouragement for those that maybe don't think it's possible to go and get a college degree that maybe it's too expensive? All these different things. Can you leave us with that words of advice for those individuals?

[34:41]  Yeah, this is what I've learned in well, over my lifetime, but but really has come to means a lot to me in the last six years as I've worked with these students. There are many paths to success and very few of them are a straight line. I just know so many students who They need more than the four years. It that's just that's just not gonna be their path. Or they need more than the six years. Again, a student is graduating in December in our program who's been going to school for nine years, on and off, struggled financially, had lots of different challenges and hurdles thrown at her, and she's gonna do it. And she's so excited and I'm so excited for her. we don't have any more funding we provide her, but she still will call, she still checks in, she still, you know, gets the support and and and the resources that we can provide her.

[34:42]  Yes.

[34:57]  That to me, like that persistence and grit, you don't get that by be having things handed to you. You get that by by sticking it out, by getting knocked down and pulling yourself up, right? Maybe her story that was was told to her whole life was you can't do this, this, you aren't good enough for this, you don't belong here. But she's gonna prove everybody wrong. And I think that to me is what I think about every day. And I hope our students hear that from us and get that message as well.

[35:12]  Mm-hmm. I love it. I don't even know her, but I'm super excited and cheering for her. She seemed like the underdog and she's coming out on top. been in those places where you have a chip on your shoulder because someone told you you couldn't. I was told by my high school counselor when I was in school, E Fran, go get a job because school is just not for you. And I always say she forgot to tell me the rest of my story because I've been able to be an entrepreneur, I've been able to travel the world on somebody else's dime. I've I've been able to do some cool stuff. So yeah, shouts out to her for just never giving up. And shout out for you to meeting her at where she was at and pouring back into her. We're big believers here that one story, one moment, one organization really changes somebody's life. You are the organization and you are part of the organization that is truly changing people's lives. So shout outs to you. You've been changing people's lives for 20 years at home with your own kids, and now you're and I also want to kind of go back there. Not only did you change your kids' lives. But I can imagine that they were also pouring back into their friends. They're going to pour back into their own kids. Like you are truly fertilizing the future. So, Kara, we thank you so much really for your time, for the resources that you've been able to provide for those that are listening that may not know that this exists and hopes that we can continue to just expand what you guys are doing and provide more scholarships. This year was 30. I can't wait till you tell me, Efrain we did a hundred, right? Because it's definitely just gotta keep persistence, gotta stay patient, gotta stay consistent.

[35:27]  Thank you. Yep. I love that. Thank you.

[35:42]  Kara, we thank you. We thank you for just being you. My name's Ephrain. This is Kara. Make sure that you guys like, subscribe, and comment. We'll catch you on the next one. Later.