Pittsburgh Promise coaches play key role in lives of students
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The Pittsburgh Promise launched its Promise Coaches pilot program in 2020 and since then, the coaches have been making a huge difference in students' lives by helping them plan for a bright future after high school.
Due to the success of the non-profit organization's coaching initiative, the coaches will become a permanent part of three schools and expand to another.
"I love when they're getting their acceptance letters or they get job offers. Or sometimes, ones who've already graduated, they reach out and say I love college, I'm doing so well. I live for those moments," said Angela Weaver, Promise Coach team lead at Carrick High School.
The coaches will get to experience many more moments like that for many years to come, even though Pittsburgh Public Schools' class of 2028 will be the last group of graduates to benefit from Pittsburgh Promise's scholarship program.
The coaches have been walking the school halls of Pittsburgh's Carrick, Perry, and Milliones (UPrep) for nearly four years. Every day, they play an important role in students' lives.
"Students have impacted me in so many different ways," said Billy Rutherford, a Promise coach at UPrep
"They're the reason I'm here, I love my students so much," Weaver said.
The Pittsburgh Promise is keeping its 10 coaches at the three schools and adding four more to expand into Westinghouse High School in the fall. The coaches help under-resourced students break through barriers and reach for the stars.
"Some of it is just misunderstandings, and not having kind of parents who are knowledgeable about college. Or some of them experience stuff like homelessness or just low income," Weaver said.
Weaver joined the Promise coaching team at Carrick in 2020. She said they help students find scholarships, fill out financial aid forms, apply to college or trade schools, and join the workforce.
"We want to meet with every single student, but we start as soon as ninth grade. We want to get them on that right track of making the choices that are going to set them up for success," Weaver said.
Rutherford said at Uprep, which is sixth through 12 grade, they provide mentorship for the younger students and get into the post-secondary exploration when they get into ninth grade.
"We try to meet them where they're at, based off of their interests and their skills," Rutherford said.
The coaches wear many hats, including encouraging kids to go to class, mediating issues among teens and lending an ear on hard days.
"We're not able to always provide a quick fix, but it's sticking with them through the whole process year after year and making sure that they understand that we care about them, that we're in their corner to provide whatever support that we can," Rutherford said.
The executive director of the Pittsburgh Promise, Saleem Ghubril, said the impact of the coaches has been significant.
"What we have seen is a substantial increase in Promise eligibility rates, in some case more than doubling. And Promise eligibility rate is a combination of GPA and attendance and we have seen an increase in the completion of the FAFSA application," Ghubril said.
Nearly 12,000 students have received money through Pittsburgh Promise's scholarship program, which will end with the class of 2028.
Ghubril is pushing for bills introduced by state lawmakers to create a Pennsylvania promise program.
"There has to be a public policy solution for the scholarship program. Today there is some discussion in Harrisburg about launching a Pennsylvania Promise, and we're celebrating that and I'm doing whatever I can to influence that decision-making," he said.
Ghubril said before the Promise launched the coaching initiative, leaders realized financial assistance wasn't enough to help students aspire to greater things. He said at the end of the day, students are people first.
"There are just realities in people's lives that have to be addressed before they can start aspiring. They all have incredible potential, they all have wing-span that is very wide. But lots of them haven't figured out how to spread their wings in order to soar," Ghubril said.
For many years to come, the Promise coaches will keep helping kids move closer to the end zone of where they want to be.
"I've now seen a full cohort almost get all the way to graduation, and I think that has been an amazing experience to kind of see how some of them have physically grown like weeds and just also how they've matured emotionally and mentally and just seeing them kind of take steps toward the goals they brought up four years ago," Weaver said.
"I think having those personal connections with students is really meaningful, beyond where they're going to end up at college or a job because we really care about them as a people," Rutherford said.
