Unlocking Possibilities With Higher Education

One has to know that the door is unlocked before one can open it to the possibilities beyond. Alma Olivas-Aguilar, Career & College Readiness Coordinator for Weld County District 6 (WCD6) in Colorado, has spent her life guiding people to the unlocked doors that lead to higher education and the endless opportunities that await, just as others did for her when she was a student in the district.

Limited to Limitless

“I remember telling myself, ‘Oh, we’re going to a city, and I’m going to get educated,’” recalls Olivas-Aguilar of when she first moved to WCD6 at 11 years old. “But at the time, I had no idea what getting an education entailed.”

More than 20 years ago, the area an hour north of Denver was more rural, with vacant land for farming and agriculture. Since then, oil and gas industries have moved in, providing jobs and creating more housing. With that, Weld County has grown to contain about 22,694 students, making it one of the 13th largest school districts in Colorado. More than 61% of those students identify as Hispanic or Latinx, and there are more than 78 different languages spoken.

“It’s definitely changed and grown,” says Olivas-Aguilar. “During my high school time, I actually did not know that there was anything more than high school. I was limited in a sense. I thought I would be graduating high school, getting married, and having children. That was my mentality because that was the expectation that I knew.”

Then a teacher recommended Olivas-Aguilar to a TRIO program called Upward Bound at Colorado State University, and she realized that other doors to the future were in fact unlocked. The Federal TRIO Programs are outreach and student services designed for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, with eight programs intended to serve and assist low-income individuals, first-generation college students, and individuals with disabilities, from middle school to post-baccalaureate programs.

With the support of TRIO advisors, Olivas-Aguilar attended the University of Northern Colorado to become a teacher, but even when she realized that classroom teaching was not the path for her, her college degree changed her mindset from limited to limitless and provided another unlocked door to open.

The College Lingo

“I just did not see myself in the classroom,” says Olivas-Aguilar. “I think it goes back to the limited information. The college lingo was not present as much until later on in my life, so I didn’t really get to explore options.”

But with a college education, Olivas-Aguilar found an unlocked door and opened it to begin working at a TRIO program for Aims Community College. “I knew what it was like,” says Olivas-Aguilar. “I had a TRIO advisor when I was in high school, and then I had a TRIO advisor when I was in college. I knew how to do that, and I loved being able to advise students about their career options because I wanted to help them achieve their goals a lot sooner than when I did.”

The mentality of helping others comes from Olivas-Aguilar’s mother, who raised four children on her own. “I’m the oldest and had to help my mom,” explains Olivas-Aguilar. “So it was just something that I think she ingrained in me. From then, I knew that I wanted to give back, especially to those that impacted me through my journey.”

Her desire to support students in WCD6 led to yet another unlocked door to manage GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs), which allowed her to introduce the college lingo to even more students. This language of higher education has even been articulated to Olivas-Aguilar’s 9-year-old daughter, who not only knows that doors are unlocked but has also started opening them to see what is beyond. “She’s changed from wanting to be an astronaut to a teacher to a computer scientist. She gets the lingo early on,” says Olivas-Aguilar.

Encouraging Others to Unlock Their Potential

That college lingo is so important for parents and students alike.

Olivas-Aguilar recalls a story of a single mom who was afraid that if she attended college, she would take away the financial aid her daughter could receive. “I told her, ‘No, no, no, you’re not going to take away from her, you’re going to do it together,’” says Olivas-Aguilar. “Changing that mindset that they could both do it and work together towards completing their degrees. That specific parent became an advisor at the TRIO program at Aims Community College. It’s amazing to see their success. They were able to start at a community college and then go to the university level, and then come back full circle.”

Another student whom Olivas-Aguilar worked with was disappointed that she was unable to pass the exam needed to continue the nursing program. “She was at a point where she thought she lost it all. I said, ‘Well, what about if you do this instead?’ and I suggested that she become an advisor in the STEM nursing field.” says Olivas-Aguilar.

Olivas-Aguilar learned that one’s future doesn’t go through just one door, but rather through multiple unlocked doors that just need to be opened. “You’re doing it, but you’re doing it a different way,” she says. “You think you have this narrow path, but in reality, it’s just going to go a different route. If you put options there, it’s not one dead end.”

Career and College Readiness Coordinator

Olivas-Aguilar made great strides as GEAR UP coordinator with WCD6 but is sunsetting the grant before transitioning to a position as the Career and College Readiness Coordinator with the district, where she will continue to support high school and early college students through various programs.

“The position is more invested in the programs that the Colorado Department of Education has funded,” says Olivas-Aguilar of her new role. Such programs include Concurrent Enrollment (where students can start taking college courses while still in high school), the Teacher Recruitment, Education and Preparation Program (which encourages high school students to pursue careers in teaching), and Path4Forward (which helps students graduate high school early and places them into a career path or certification.

These programs all help support students access various opportunities that await at the higher education level, but even with such programs and advisors to lead students to their desired path, they still have courses that they do in fact need to pass. Luckily, when Olivas-Aguilar was running GEAR UP, she met a group of people from iTutor, the nation’s leading provider of virtual instruction. Three weeks after this meeting, the pandemic hit, and virtual learning became even more of a necessity.

“I really liked the idea of having flexible availability because students are just busy, and so sometimes staying after school wasn’t the best option,” says Olivas-Aguilar of iTutor’s functionality. “Also, since our program was working with students that were already in college, I needed something to support students at their level.”

iTutor teachers met the criteria and began to work with Olivas-Aguilar’s college students, providing a flexible tutoring program so that they could independently coordinate times according to what worked best for their schedules. “Since I’m sunsetting the grant, I still have college students using the hours on a one-on-one basis,” says Olivas-Aguilar. “Students may be taking biology, and they need additional support, so we assign the student to an iTutor teacher and then they’ll connect with the student. The number-one piece of feedback [we receive] is the accessibility and flexibility because college students just have different schedules.”

Olivas-Aguilar’s mission to unlock students’ potential has led to the possibility of expanding its iTutor services to include a resume-writing workshop specifically for CTE (career and technical education) students. “Some of them are interested in internships or apprenticeships, and we want them to be fully equipped by the end of their program with a resume ready for them to find a job,” says Olivas-Aguilar.

An Uncertain Future With Unlocked Potential

Olivas-Aguilar’s mission of helping others can only be achieved if she first helps herself. The same day she met with members of iTutor, she returned home to learn that she had lost more than 50% of her hearing due to tumors growing inside her ears that prevented the vibrations from connecting to the brain. With two surgeries completed and another one scheduled, Olivas-Aguilar is unsure of what the future holds.

“It’s important to highlight how the pandemic gave us a curveball in different ways,” says Olivas-Aguilar. “For me, after being the project director for the GEAR UP program, I took a pause a little bit as I extended my family, and a growing family is just a lot of work. One of the things that I’m doing right now is taking care of myself and taking care of my family, which is a priority. My career is something that I think is at a crossroads. I do not know where life is going to take me, but I do hope someday to be in a leadership role in a different capacity.”

Olivas-Aguilar has spent the majority of her life supporting others to pursue higher education through GEAR UP and TRIO programs, as well as iTutor partnerships, and though her future may be uncertain, all those she influenced will have unlocked doors to opportunities for wherever their futures may take them, just like Olivas-Aguilar.