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Part of who Latimer became thanks to OneGoal is a resourceful and resilient woman who was able to access the resources she needed when she went away to college, as well as bounce back when she was disappointed by her academic performance.
“That became my top choice and I applied and I got in and I went there on a full ride. OneGoal definitely set a high expectation and had an impres- sionable impact on who I wanted to become.” Part of who Latimer became thanks to OneGoal is a resourceful and resilient woman who was able to access the resources she needed when she went away to college, as well as bounce back when she was disappointed by her academic per- formance. Used to being a straight-A student in high school, she initially struggled in college, but persevered to earn an undergraduate degree in communications and a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology. “That (initially struggling in col- lege) might make some people quit and drop out, but it was very
at OneGoal. “In some ways, it was a nice way for my brain to switch gears where it wasn’t focused on slope-in- tercept form or quadratic formula, and more on something that seemed to be more applicable to students’ real lives. I could be a human and students could be humans in my class.” That experience with students, including Caleb Navarro, has stayed with Stricker for years, even though he’s no longer in the classroom. “I think it continues to be reward- ing. It’s cliché, but it’s the gift that keeps on giving,” said Stricker. “I’m able to still be in contact with stu- dents who are now 28 years old, and so OneGoal built these bonds that I was a little bit skeptical of when I first started. I didn’t know if I had the per- sonality for this, but OneGoal really opened me up. This was before I had kids of my own, so it expanded my heart in a way that allowed for some- thing where I can still be in touch with students all these years later.”
“As a student, I would say that OneGoal shifted the trajectory of my life in so many positive ways. Those were formative years for me — I was 16 years old navigating so much — and OneGoal would put me in rooms with people and just told me to let my light shine,” she said. “I took that very seriously.”
The rewards of OneGoal reach far beyond the students served:
Program directors also have profound experiences through the work they do.
ONEGOAL IMPACTS EDUCATORS, TOO The rewards of OneGoal reach far beyond the students served: Program directors also have profound experi- ences through the work they do. “I loved teaching math for a num- ber of years, but there seemed to be something different, more exciting, perhaps more at stake, in trying to guide students toward their postsec- ondary pathways,” said Drew Stricker, senior director of data and learning
humanizing for me,” said Latimer. “The resilience on how to bounce back from that is certainly something that I learned immediately.” Latimer later returned to OneGoal as a senior director of program inno- vation and now works as the man- aging director of talent development and culture at College Track, a college completion program that serves stu- dents from low-income communities. She credits OneGoal as a launchpad to her success.
Kenya McCullum is a freelance writer based in California.
10 • THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE ADMISSION
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