A
Who We Serve

 One the great things about TRIO folks is our undying belief in our students-- when often no one else does.  That characteristic is one of our most distinguishing elements.

 Also, it sometimes takes a while to see the fruits of our labor; one must be content with the long view of "investments."  Usually there are few "get smart quick results", but the seeds we plant do take root, do grow, do flourish.  Our students are the great trust we have been given to serve and to nurture, to teach and to lead.

Our ability to understand who we are caring about is one aspect of our work that never makes it to the regulations issued by DOE.  However, we each have "internal regulations" that speak to us with compelling honesty. We are doing important work, and we must see beyond the student presenting himself or herself with often such a small handful of hope.  Sometimes we are one only ones who even see the hope in the students' eyes or read it in their own words.

We in TRIO speak for the students who own no physical property except perhaps for a pair of coveted high top sneakers or the ever present headgear of musical ears;

 We speak for the students who have no important contacts in the worlds of business, education, industry or government;

 We speak for the students who come from families that are broken down, fissured, cracking and disintegrating;

 We speak for the students who go to schools that provide them with just enough to get by but never enough to get ahead;

 We speak for the students who have witnessed firsthand in their families the destructive effects of alcohol and drugs, of domestic abuse and violence;

 We speak for the students whose parents refer to them as 'stupid', as 'brats', and much, much worse;

 We speak for the students who have been told by school officials that they are not 'college material' and that they are wasting their time;

We speak for those students who arrive in this country with only hope and a battered suitcase;

 We speak for those students who have witnessed unspeakable violence and have lived in the meanest of circumstances and situations.

 We speak for them because no one else does.

 Their applications may be inadvertently stained with last night's dinner or poorly written or painfully embarrassed in their statements of poverty or convoluted family structures, but apply they will.  They know that through education they have a chance to change their lives.

And, in the end, their need is always simple: they have had ample time to practice poverty's lessons.  They need, instead, a chance to learn and to practice the lessons of educational opportunity that are provided by TRIO programs.

 Good thoughts to you.  May we all continue to speak well for these students.

 Anne A. Thomas