Beyond the Tassel

Beyond the Tassel is a weekly podcast hosted by education equity advocate and community engagement champion, Craig Williams, featuring insider tips to help families and students prepare for the transition from high school to college or other post-secondary intentions. College isn’t for everyone but, on average, about two out of every three kids choose to go to college. Our mission is to help kids make the most of that process, providing tools and insights to gain admission to the schools of their choice and to help parents with strategies to make college more affordable. Through this podcast, our local community engagement efforts, and our website, journey12.com, we hope to enhance the odds of young people finding a successful fit with their post-secondary transition process. Your kids are just as smart and hardworking as kids anywhere, and on our podcast, we strive to level the playing field for your students as they ramp up for their chosen post-secondary intentions, including military, the trades, family business, college, and the world of work. Episodes drop every week. Subscribe to always have access to the latest insights.

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Beyond the Tassel

Beyond the Tassel, Leveraging Local Resources

February 23, 2021 • Journey12 • Season 2

0:00 | 19:48

This week, I’d like to do something a little different than usual. I’d like you to meet two students with rural roots but very different personal stories. Jackeline Garcia is a senior at Effingham High School in Effingham, Illinois, a county with a population of just 34,000. She is the first generation daughter of Mexican immigrants and she has an acceptance letter from The University of Notre Dame. We’ll hear from her and learn more about her Journey. We’ll also speak with a third year student at the University of Chicago and discuss his unusual route for getting there from a rural, coal-mining town in deep southern Illinois through a top, suburban prep-school in Metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri. Both students are on fascinating journeys and both have done much to prepare for them.