In the fall of 2020, Michelle Legere walked into the sophomore-class advisory group at Richford Junior-Senior High School to introduce herself as a brand-new VSAC Outreach Counselor. Even on her very first day at work, she knew that Xavier Wood was a standout. “The students took turns introducing…
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Blog Archive: Applying for Financial Aid
During the spring of his senior year at Burr & Burton Academy, Nick Williams had several college acceptance letters sitting on his desk. But, he recalls saying to his parents at the time, “I have no idea how I’m going to afford this.” “It kind of soured the process for me,” says Nick, now 24. “I…
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Vaughn Winter is determined to rise above the series of odd warehousing and restocking jobs he's held since graduating from Montpelier High School.
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Burlington High School senior Sahra Hassan has twice been recognized as being among the top students in the country and part of the nation’s most promising STEM talent. But you’d never know it in talking to her. This hardworking and high-achieving student comes across, first and foremost, as humble…
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Dylan Tanner is ready for a career that taps into his digital design passions and allows him to spend more time with his growing family.
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From the start, Kristen Burns knew she wanted to attend CCV. “I always wanted to work full-time and CCV always promoted how they can work with your schedule…it’s been really nice having the online classes you can do at your own pace,” she said. Kristen is pursuing the early childhood education…
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Eighteen-year-old Derek Hodgdon grew up in Swanton in a typical Franklin County family. Hard work was expected, college wasn’t, and pretty much everyone assumed that he would go right to work in the metal recycling business that bore his last name. But while Swanton would always be home, Derek wasn…
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Twenty-year-old Charlie Wallace describes her art as “modern and eclectic. It’s totally random, and I love it. It gives me feeling.” The soft-spoken young woman with the slight Southern accent and the blue streaks in her hair is now herself an eclectic mix of northern Vermont – where she moved, on…
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“If you had asked me five years ago, I would have said, ‘no way would I be going to college,’” says Autumn Morse. In fact, she once doubted that she would even finish high school. And she wasn’t the only one; plenty of others assumed she would follow in the footsteps of her parents, who both fell…
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Almost exactly four years ago, VSAC first reported on Will Eberle, who overcame homelessness and addiction and went from high-school dropout to master’s-degree student, through equal parts personal determination and community support. But Eberle is quick to say that his success is no Horatio Alger…
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