Opportunity Shouldn’t Depend on Luck

On the warm evening of June 4, 2021, after graduating from Accomack County Public Schools, I stood outside the gym taking pictures with my family as the sun began to set over the Eastern Shore. My parents had brought a large poster board covered with photos and newspaper clippings celebrating my years playing sports and growing up in our community. At the time, it felt like the closing of one chapter.

Just a few years later, I found myself opening an admissions portal while on FaceTime with my parents. When the message appeared saying I had been accepted into the Harvard Graduate School of Education to study education leadership and entrepreneurship, we all began cheering in disbelief. Even now, I am still trying to grasp the magnitude of that opportunity. But if I am honest, that journey did not begin with a grand plan or anything remarkable about me. It began with a simple question from a teacher.

During my sophomore year, Mrs. Sheryll Stanley, a long-term French substitute teacher, often stayed after school talking with students about their futures. One afternoon she asked me, “Do you want to go to college?” When I hesitated, she told me something I will never forget: “You are going to go to college, and you are going with a full ride.”

She repeated that promise often. During the summer, she helped guide me through the QuestBridge application process, sitting with me after school as I worked on essays and scholarship materials. At the time, college had felt distant and uncertain. Like many students on the Eastern Shore, I assumed I would likely begin working after graduation, learn a trade, or possibly attend community college later if finances allowed. Mrs. Stanley helped me see a different path.

Stories like mine should not depend on coincidence. Students should not have to rely on chance encounters to discover college opportunities. We should not have a system where pursuing higher education depends on luck.

Accomack County Public Schools and many educators across the Eastern Shore have worked hard to expand opportunities and college guidance for students. But stories like mine also suggest that there is room to introduce students and families to the process earlier, so that opportunity does not depend on whether someone happens to meet the right mentor at the right time.

The summer before senior year can be a critical moment. Rising 11th graders can use that time to begin researching colleges, drafting application essays, asking teachers for recommendation letters, and searching for scholarships. Starting early allows students to approach the process with confidence rather than uncertainty.

Students should also remember that the experiences they bring with them already carry value. Like many children of immigrant families on the Eastern Shore, I grew up around the working landscapes that sustain our community: chicken farms, construction sites, agricultural fields, and seafood processing plants.

Those environments taught me discipline, responsibility, and the dignity of hard work. Long before I stepped into a college classroom, I was learning lessons about perseverance and sacrifice from the people around me. These experiences are just as meaningful as the internships or programs often available to students from wealthier backgrounds.

Helping students pursue higher education is not the responsibility of schools alone. Families, educators, churches, and community members all play a role in encouraging young people to explore opportunities and believe in their potential. When families understand the college process earlier, they are better equipped to support their children through it.

Somewhere on the Eastern Shore this spring, another student will stand outside a gym after graduation while their family holds a poster board celebrating their journey. The future they imagine in that moment should not depend on luck or chance encounters. It should grow from a community that prepares its students early, supports their families, and reminds them that the opportunities of higher education belong to them too.

— Abraham Mateos-Enriquez
Accomack County Public Schools Class of 2021