For Ellie, one of the most important indicators of student well-being is whether they have supportive adults in their lives beyond their parents. In her role as a College Possible coach at St. Louis Park High School, she has seen firsthand how powerful those relationships can be, especially for students who are first-generation, navigating complex home lives, or are neurodivergent.
When the school year began, Ellie expected students to embrace the support and dive into the college process immediately. Some did. But others took time. She knew she needed to start by showing curiosity about their lives, taking time to understand their interests in drawing, car shows, and Marvel animation. Many hope to pursue fields like media and animation to bring stories of strength to life, or criminology, focusing on the goal of reducing crimes involving children.
“Rather than starting as a coach, I needed to start as a human,” Ellie said.
She shifted her approach, breaking down the college application process into manageable pieces and consistently connecting each step back to her students’ dreams and long-term goals.
Over time, students began turning to her for support in more meaningful ways. Many asked Ellie to write recommendation letters on their behalf, sharing that she was one of the adults they felt closest to outside of home or friends. She emphasizes that this is not a failure of public schools, as large high schools often lack the capacity for deep, individualized relationships unless students know how to seek them out. Students with greater financial resources can afford to pay for private school or outside college coaching, making her role even more critical.
Ellie is especially drawn to the soft-spoken yet exceptionally bright, kind, and hardworking students who can easily be overlooked. Rather than expecting them to navigate systems on their own, she meets them where they are and builds trust.
Now, her communication with students looks completely different from the start of the year. Students text her with exclamation points, share screenshots of applications, and stop by to make small talk. Through her role with College Possible, Ellie helps strengthen an educational ecosystem that is stretched thin, ensuring students do not slip through the cracks.
Her service has also taught her a great deal about herself. Before College Possible, Ellie worked in roles including a position on Capitol Hill for a U.S. senator. While politics is often seen as the place where big decisions are made, she feels she has accomplished “infinitely more” as a coach.
“There’s no perfect way to be a coach,” Ellie says. “I can’t always relate to the difficult experiences students have had. I can’t say, ‘I know how you feel.’ But I can say that I empathize with you, and I will do my best to use the tools and skills I have to make this system work better for you.”