Shane Winner, a senior and academic standout at Iola High School, assumed hed follow a predictable route after graduation: Go to a four-year state college, earn a degree and join the workforce.
That path took an unexpected turn last year when his friend, 2019 IHS graduate Jon Miller, was accepted to Bowdoin College in Maine through the QuestBridge scholars program. With their sons success, Millers parents, Paul and Kari, decided to help other IHS students reach for the stars.
They took Winner under their wing.
First off, they helped him apply to the QuestBridge program, which helps low-income, first-generation college students connect with Americas best colleges. In some cases, students can earn full-ride scholarships to colleges that would otherwise be out of reach.
Last spring, Winner was named a QuestBridge prep scholar. He attended a QuestBridge conference at Vanderbilt University in Nashville over the summer.
From there, the Millers worked with Winner to fine-tune essays and applications to help him stand out among thousands of other students across the country. They impressed on him the importance of visiting college campuses to find the right fit. Colleges will pay to fly a potential student for a visit, but the process is quite competitive.
Winner was selected for two fly-in visits. In a couple of weeks, Winner will fly to Middlebury College, a private liberal arts school in Vermont. In November, hell visit Davidson College in North Carolina.
Its life-changing, Winner said of the Millers help. Theyve definitely pushed me, not only to avoid procrastinating but to think about how I write essays and how the admissions rep or others may think about me. Theyve shown me so much support, its unreal.
Navigating through the college application process is challenging no matter what school you want to attend, Paul Miller said. Many students may feel too intimidated to apply to more selective schools across the country, especially when the price tag for those schools can top more than $60,000 per year.
But the Millers, especially after Jons experience last year, know better. Those big-name colleges have deep pockets and actively search for diversity including geographic and financial diversity. In fact, it can be cheaper for a student from Iola to attend Princeton than the University of Kansas.
For this caliber of school, it is not about affording college. The key is getting in, Paul Miller said.
PAUL MILLER, a full-time substitute at IHS, sent an email to a handful of juniors in September 2018: Dream big and own your college search! I want to walk you through the process, and offer what little I have experienced and know. He thought students might be more receptive to a parent than a teacher or guidance counselor, though he worked with school administrators and the guidance office. He met with students about once a month, over lunch, to talk about discovering their dream school, building a resume for selective colleges, how to visit a college, opportunities to visit out-of-state colleges, QuestBridge, and the importance of writing college application essays.
Similar meetings with this years crop of juniors will start next week.
As I looked at so many of the talented students at IHS, it was clear to me that I could share with them what I had learned in the process with my son, Paul Miller said. Our family tends to be encouragement-oriented. I knew that without prolonged and targeted support, students would easily be demoralized.
Both Kari and Paul had offered feedback to Jon as he wrote his essays, so they offered the same service to the high school students.
The feedback on his essays has been invaluable, Winner said, and timely. Usually someone will respond within 24 hours. Each of the Millers has a unique style, which means he gets different viewpoints to consider. That has helped him approach his writing from various perspectives.
He remembers the moment when it all clicked. He wrote an essay to apply for a fly-in to Wesleyan University. Thirty minutes after he submitted it to the Millers, Jon sent him a message: This is a great answer, but its not really the answer.
