4 Support Networks How friends, parents, teachers, and others can help
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ver since he was a young boy, Eric Polk had his head in a book. Even his friends who hung out on the streets of East Nashville told him that he would go to college one day, without a doubt. When they went off to party, they called his mother to make sure Eric went home instead of getting in trouble. Those friendships were just some of the relationships that supported Eric’s progress at home, at school, and after school. His great-aunt Rachel talked him through an emotional breakdown in his tenth-grade year. His English teacher, Miss Quick, took his questions and his academic ambitions seriously. And at his internship with a community nonprofit organization, his two supervisors became like father and brother to him, coaching him into a leadership role out in the world. Now that Eric has actually made it to Wake Forest University, he often thinks of how each of these people helped him to get there—by believing in him, encouraging him, and holding out opportunities for him to expand his horizons. They connected him into a network that keeps on supporting him through his hard times and celebrating his successes.
» I am below the poverty level and I’m gonna need help! Across all lines, you never know who can help you—and later on in life, they can still help. If you shut out people, you’re going to be by yourself, and you don’t want to be by yourself. Network, learn, connect, and talk to people. Tap into some of those resources, because they are resources! Then the better off you’ll be. You can’t go through high school staying to yourself—colleges these days are looking for well-rounded people, so get out of the shell, put yourself out there. –
ERIC
Your world, too, may already contain many people who can help you along the road to college. Finding and reaching out to them may be the most important thing you can do during your high school years.
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F I R S T I N T H E FA M I LY
S U P P O R T N E T W O R KS
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