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From authentic guidance and civil discourse to rapid support for everyday needs, education leaders are tackling the barriers that impact students’ futures.
Across the country, educators, nonprofits, and technology pioneers are rethinking how to support students. From eliminating the hidden shame of poverty to building the critical thinking skills that fuel civil discourse, a new wave of leaders is confronting systemic challenges with fresh, student-centered approaches. Their work reveals that changing a student’s life often starts with a single conversation, a gift card, or a bold reimagining of what guidance really means.
Helping Students Find Their Own Story
For students applying to top MBA programs, the pressure to stand out has never been higher. The rise of AI-generated essays has further complicated the question of authenticity. Sia Admissions, a boutique MBA consultancy founded by Susan Berishaj, takes a reflection-driven approach, helping applicants uncover the experiences and ambitions that make their stories distinct rather than simply polishing applications.
Berishaj shared: “I talk to admission teams at the business schools, and they’re like, everyone sounds the same. What these tools have presented to us is a mirror — who, what can I do that is beyond what GPT or any one of these platforms can do? That self-reflection is really necessary for any individual to remain relevant as the job market changes.”
The process also asks students to think beyond admission itself and consider how education fits into a larger goal.
“We reverse engineer: if you could solve this problem today, what kind of role would you need to have? Then we go backwards, looking at every opportunity not as ‘getting into Harvard;’ it’s really about looking at Harvard as a tool. And every step along the way, it is a decision that helps you get closer to that goal.”
That approach can change more than an application.
“By the time they apply, the only thing that remains the same in their resume was their name and their major; everything else changed entirely. Because along the way, they encountered hurdles, and we worked through that to really transform the person. I love what I do, and I can talk about it all day.”
Teaching Students to Disagree Without Harm
The challenges facing students extend beyond academic performance. Schools are also confronting the consequences of conversations that turn hostile. A Banjo survey found that over 70% of college students had experienced negative fallout from conversations, including exclusion, threats, and violence.
Ken Allen, Founder & CEO at Banjo, revealed: “We did a survey where over 70% of college students had experienced negative fallout from a conversation gone wrong, including being excluded from friend groups, direct threats of violence, or in some cases violence.”
Founder Ken Allen spent more than a decade developing a platform designed around safety and healthy disagreement. Its purpose is not simply to encourage discussion, but to build skills that help students navigate disagreement constructively.
“Skills like critical thinking: being able to analyze a piece of data or an argument, dissect it, and uncover the underlying assumptions and meaning. The skill of empathy: leading with trying to understand another person’s point of view rather than just offering your own and being willing to change your mind in the face of new evidence. There’s plenty of research that suggests these types of communication skills can actually be taught and learned,” Allen added.
That objective is embedded in the platform itself.
“We set out from day one, unlike any other platform in the world, to create a civil dialogue environment. That was the intention built into the product, and every decision we made along the way was done to promote safety and foster a civil environment.”
Addressing the Hidden Cost of Poverty
For many students, the obstacles to success are not academic. They are material and often highly visible. Alice’s Kids addresses what founder Hilary Riedemann calls the hidden cost of poverty by providing anonymous, rapid assistance through educators, typically within 24–48 hours.
According to Hilary Riedemann, Director of Public Relations at Alice’s Kids: “The teacher gives the gift card to the parent or guardian, and they get to be the hero. They have no idea they’re receiving charity most of the time. We try to relieve that stigma of being poor; if your mom or dad or caregiver gets to be the hero instead of us, so much the better.”
The organization focuses on everyday needs that can make poverty particularly difficult for students to conceal.
“We call it the hidden cost of poverty because you can hide being hungry, you can hide being hot in the summer. You can’t hide the fact that your shoes are floppy and your pants are six inches too short. We don’t do housing and food because there are other organizations that do that — as far as we know, we are the only organization in the country to focus on just the little things.”
Riedemann believes that the demand for that assistance has continued to grow.
“Last year was our biggest year; we helped almost 15,000 kids. We’re on track to help about 20,000 this year. In two years alone, we’ve doubled what we’ve been doing. Year over year, for the last 15 years, we’ve seen the same struggles, and it seems to be getting worse.”
Giving Students Navigators for Life After High School
As students approach graduation, having information about post-secondary options does not always translate into having a plan. OneGoal addresses that gap by embedding advising directly into schools. Trusted teachers lead junior- and senior-year courses that continue through students’ critical first year after graduation.
For many students, that trusted relationship matters because they are navigating unfamiliar territory within their families.
Alex Dailey, Executive Director at OneGoal, stated: “Most of our students are first-generation college students, so we’re asking them to pioneer within their family. We’re finding that an adult isn’t the one they call mom or dad. It needs to be the one that they trust and spend almost as much time with in their schools — like their social studies teachers.”
The program also emphasizes finding the right post-secondary path rather than simply encouraging enrollment.
“What we call at OneGoal is our quality enrollment framework. We work to make sure that students are considering personal, financial, community, all of those considerations, when they find what we define as their best fit and what they do pursue,” Dailey added.
That support becomes particularly important during the uncertain period immediately following graduation.
“The period after high school graduation and before college enrollment is the most uncertain period in a young adult’s life they’ve ever faced. It is the first time in their life where they’re not being told what to do. What we help them do is feel confident in that decision we’ve helped them make for themselves in the two years prior. These students are pioneering into a foreign land of opportunity — so they need navigators.”
Trust as the Foundation of Student Success
The common thread across these efforts is trust, between a student and a counselor, a family and a nonprofit, a classroom and a platform. When leaders design with dignity and long-term outcomes in mind, the results ripple well beyond grades and test scores. As these innovators demonstrate, changing a student’s life often begins with listening, meeting them where they are, and believing their story is worth telling.
