Meet our heroes

Bryon Michael Donner has survived trauma, addiction, and a prison sentence to earn his college degree with the support of his ReUp Success Coach. Now, he wants to pay it forward.

With the help of her ReUp Success Coach, Sonya Williams completed the long and winding road to graduation and a career. Her next destination? A master’s.

Student success story Leon J. shares how ReUp coaching and making life changes helped him recover from setbacks and get back on track with his college education. Tell us about your educational journey; where did it begin for you?  My educational journey began a year after I graduated high school. I wanted to take a year off to experience the world, which I am glad I did. Then, in 2015, I took a few college classes, all of which I completed, but after that, some real-life issues arose.  When did things start to become challenging? All of a sudden, life

Adeline is working toward her dream of becoming a Criminal Defense advocate and creating a non-profit organization for long-term Inmates and is motivated by being a role model for her son. She currently lives in Wisconsin and has been working with her Success Coach since May 2020 Q. Tell us about your educational journey: Where did it begin for you? Why did you decide to go to college? I started at the University of Wisconsin – Parkside the fall semester after graduating high school. My original plan was to be a teacher, I majored in sociology and history.  After one

Selena is working toward her dream of becoming a nurse and is motivated by being a role model for her son. She currently lives near Kalamazoo, MI and has been working with her Success Coach since December 2018. Q. Tell us about your educational journey: Where did it begin for you? Why did you decide to go to college? I graduated high school in 2013. I’ve always known college is important but I was always clueless on what I wanted to study or major in. I applied to KVCC that summer and I remember being super lost about the whole