For Tiara Davis, a year two scholar at Kennedy-King College, returning to school was not a straight line forward. It was a decision shaped by time, life, and experience. After stepping away from college for more than a decade, she came back as a nontraditional student, balancing coursework, family, and everything she had already lived through.
This was not her first attempt at higher education. Years earlier, she had to stop because of postpartum depression. Later, grief entered her life again with the loss of her grandmother, just as she was finding her footing academically.
“What I’m most proud of is still showing up, sometimes that doesn’t mean straight A’s. Sometimes it doesn’t mean I have 100% to give.”
Tiara Davis
That idea comes up often when scholars talk about their experience. For Paul Thomas, also a year two scholar at Kennedy-King College, being part of One Million Degrees meant being seen for his potential, not only for what he produced.
For Tiara, that support became real through her relationship with Jonathan, her OMD coordinator at the Kennedy King campus. He was the person who first noticed how engaged she was on campus and encouraged her to apply. Even before she officially joined, he continued sharing resources with her, making sure she stayed connected.
Once she became a scholar, that consistency mattered even more. During a period of grief, Jonathan became a steady point of contact. Meetings sometimes ran longer than scheduled. When Tiara needed support navigating loss while staying enrolled, he helped connect her to resources and reminded her that stopping did not have to be the outcome.
“OMD is there when I have it and when I don’t,” she says.
Support also showed up through scholar development sessions. In one session focused on leadership, Tiara was asked to reflect on how she shows up for others. She realized that leadership did not have to mean being exclusively firm or authoritative but could also look like empathy. That moment stayed with her.
“I thought I was done growing,” she says. “But I was like, no.”
Paul describes a similar shift. Seeing other scholars and alumni who had once been in the same place made the path forward feel possible. It helped him imagine continuing, not only because he was pushed to, but because he could see himself there.
Looking ahead, Tiara is clear about what she wants to carry with her.
“Take a chance on you,” she says. “That was the hardest thing for me to do.”
It is a choice she now recognizes in others, and one she hopes to offer back in the same way it was once offered to her.
