After years of phone calls home for my misbehavior, my mother got the usual call from school. It was the third week of second grade, and she already knew what the call mean: leave work, brace for another lecture, offer the familiar promise to talk with me at home. But this time was different. Instead of the usual script, the new second-grade teacher led my mom back to the classroom and asked her to pause at the door. “What do you see?” she asked quietly. Through the doorway, they watched me darting from desk to desk, hopping around the room, doing whatever I pleased. My mom answered reluctantly,”She isn’t listening”. “Yes,” the teacher said, “but it’s not because she is misbehaving, it’s because she is bored.”
Soon after, I started spending time in the fourth-grade classroom. At first, it was only for reading, but eventually it included math as well. By the end of the month, I was placed in Tier 4, a small mixed-age group of students working two grade levels ahead at our own pace. By eighth grade, I was completing my geometry and English II high school credits.
A couple of years later in high school, another adult saw me getting in trouble with school administrators and encouraged me to join Leaders of Tomorrow, a youth mentoring program led by the Houston chapter of the National Black MBA Association. The program connected me with mentors and youth from across the city who invested time and attention in my growth. I attended national conferences in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., surrounded by professionals who looked like me. I learned to speak publicly, observe strategy and decision-making, and see what it looked and felt like to move confidently in professional spaces. Long before my peers, I had a glimpse of the culture and academics I would need to navigate to succeed in life beyond high school. Those experiences were among the most formative of my adolescence, and they began with one adult taking a personal interest in me.
“It is not just what you know or even who you know. It is who knows you.”
That insight captures how opportunities often work. A student gains access to experiences that expand learning and networks because an adult sees something in them and is willing to act. When it works, it feels personal and transformative– because it is. But it also leaves life-changing opportunities up to luck.
When Access Depends on Luck, Inequities Emerge
Networks turn credentials into careers. A referral gets you the interview. An internship teaches you how professional spaces work: how to write emails, navigate office culture, ask for what you need. Mentors show you career pathways you didn’t know existed. The gap between earning a credential and earning a living wage comes down to access to people who can vouch for you, guide you, and open doors.
And in many instances, who gets that access is accidental. A teacher connects a student they are close with to an internship. A counselor introduces a handful of kids to a college representative from their alma mater. These moments are real and valuable. They are also random. When building meaningful relationships with adults who can advocate for you depends on being in the right place at the right time, only some students benefit.
When opportunity depends on proximity rather than design, inequities compound.
The Numbers Tell the Story
By 2036, 70% of jobs in Texas will require some form of post-secondary credential. Yet only 27% of Houston’s recent high school graduates earn those credentials within six years. Even more concerning, only one in five students from the class of 2017 had earned a living wage by 2023.
Academic milestones like reading on grade level, completing Algebra I in 8th grade, and taking advanced courses matter. But Brian Lightfoot, Program Director at Access Opportunity, reminded me during a recent conversation that academics alone won’t close this gap. Schools must do more than prepare students academically They must prepare students relationally.
What Educators Can Do and Why They Can't Do Alone
Bridging the Gap Between Credentials and Careers
Schools can take meaningful steps to shift this dynamic. Teachers can intentionally cultivate developmental relationships, check in on which students lack advocates, and connect them to opportunities. Principals can create structures that share responsibility for brokering relationships, establish advisory groups, strengthen alumni networks, and embed these goals in professional development. These actions reduce randomness and make access to mentorship, internships, and enrichment more equitable.
At the same time, schools cannot do it alone. Nonprofit organizations and community partners are needed to extend what schools are able to provide. Groups like Emerge Scholars, OneGoal, BridgeYear, and 8 Million Stories specialize in connecting students to mentors, careers, internships, and professional networks. Brian Lightfoot emphasizes that these local partnerships serve as critical bridges, giving students access to experiences that schools cannot always generate on their own. When schools and nonprofits work together intentionally, the reach of opportunity expands.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Turning Awareness into Action
Teachers
- Identify which students lack adult advocates
- Practice all five elements of developmental relationships, especially expanding possibilities
- Ask yourself honestly: who am I connecting to opportunities, and who am I overlooking?
- Ask yourself: have I connected with a different student this week?
Principals
- Create an opportunity advisory committee to identify and connect students to internships, mentorships, and career exploration opportunities
- Make student-to-opportunity relationship-brokering a formal goal in professional development, training educators to connect students with mentors, career pathways, and other methods of increasing their exposure to postsecondary pathways.
- Build or strengthen alumni networks for mentorship and career connections
- Do you have availability for students and teachers to come up to you without a formal meeting and connect? If this time does not exist on your schedule, ask yourself why not.
System Leaders
- Invest in partnering with community organizations whose core mission is building student networks and supporting students’ postsecondary success.
- Support district-wide structures that make access to relationships systematic, not random.
The Bottom Line
We tell students that hard work opens doors. That is true, but incomplete. Doors also open when someone knows your name and is willing to vouch for you. Schools that make that happen for every student, instead of leaving it to chance, don’t just open doors. They ensure every student knows someone standing on the other side, ready to let them in.
