03/30/2026
On March 9th–12th, three Vermont State University TRIO alumni attended the 45th annual National Policy Seminar in Washington, D.C. The Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) hosts this event to bring advocates for low-income, first-generation students served by the federal TRIO programs to Capitol Hill. This year’s event had more than 700 TRIO professionals, alums, and advocates in the nation’s capital to continue to strengthen TRIO programs and open doors for first-generation and low-income students. Vermont State University host eight TRIO programs on their campuses throughout the state, providing services to scholars pursuing their academic and career goals.
The TRIO programs, established by Congress, support modest-income and first-generation college-bound Americans in achieving success in postsecondary education. These programs are funded under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, and work to ensure equal educational opportunities for all Americans, regardless of economic circumstance or being the first in their families to attend college.
In a year marked by unprecedented federal grant delays, program cancellations, and widespread workforce disruptions within the U.S. Department of Education, the 2026 COE Policy Seminar rallied to create a defining moment for TRIO. Despite these challenges throughout the last year, an enduring truth remains: TRIO is essential for students and the nation’s economic future. Against this backdrop, TRIO educators and alumni gathered in Washington, D.C. under the theme “One Mission. One Voice. TRIO programs represent one of the federal government’s most effective strategies for advancing economic mobility and workforce readiness. TRIO provides comprehensive academic, financial, and social supports that help low-income and first-generation students prepare for, succeed in, and graduate from college. Educational attainment increases lifetime earnings, strengthens local economies, and expands the nation’s skilled workforce.
Vermont TRIO staff and alumni met with education aides from the offices of Senator Peter Welch, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Congresswoman Becca Balint. Alumni shared passionate testimonies about how Vermont’s TRIO programs impacted their college journeys and completion rates. Jahnessa Ryea, legislative aide for Senator Welch and Erika Custodia, legislative correspondent for Congresswoman Balint, both benefitted from Vermont’s TRIO Talent Search program. They know firsthand the obstacles and opportunities associated with being first generation college and from moderate income families.
Alaura Rich was a member of the Vermont State University (VTSU) TRIO Upward Bound at Lyndon and a member of the University of Vermont’s Student Support Services program. She received her Bachelor of Science in Community and International Development from the University of Vermont in 2022 and completed her Master’s of Public Administration from the UVM in 2024. She completed graduate courses at NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service. Alaura currently serves as a Program Coordinator at NYU School of Law’s Public Interest Law Center, where she helps to prepare hundreds of students each year for public service legal careers. Her work centers on advancing access to opportunity and supporting the next generation of public interest leaders — a direct reflection of what TRIO and Upward Bound once did for her. She was awarded the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Lawrence K. Forcier Outstanding Senior Award in recognition of her academic achievements and community involvement. She also was selected by UVM as the Keynote Alumni Speaker at UVM’s First-Generation Student Celebration Day, where she shared her journey from homelessness to higher education and inspired others to see their circumstances not as limitations, but as the roots of resilience. In her words:
“Today, I am living proof of what access, guidance, and belief can do for a young person who has no existing support and every reason to give up. TRIO programs were the foundation on which I built my education, my career, and my purpose. Every degree, every internship, and every milestone I’ve ever achieved can be traced back to the moment a caring adult looked at a fifteen-year-old girl from rural Vermont and said, “You deserve more.”
Isabel Wildflower was also an alum of the VTSU Upward Bound program at Lyndon and a Lake Region High School student. She received a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from SUNY Potsdam in 2020 and a Master’s of Science in Organizational Communications from Northeastern University in 2022. Currently, Isabel is Family Office Advisor at Hemenway and Barnes – a prestigious Boston Law Office where she promotes financial literacy among “the rising generation of clients”! What this means is that she helps to coordinate the stewardship of assets and organizes business, personal and in many cases, philanthropic interests for high-net-worth families. For a young woman who grew up in poverty in rural Vermont, this is a world away from her humble beginnings. Academically, she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Northeastern University and has been a member of National College Honor Society and the National Criminal Justice Honor Society. She received the Criminal Justice Scholar of the Year Award from SUNY Potsdam upon graduation. Additionally, she is the founder and owner of a small coffee company, serving coffee out of a van she purchased and rebuilt. Coffee and travel are her passions and completing her education has allowed her to take advantage of every opportunity presented to her. Isabel states:
“So, today, as a 26-year-old, the owner of a successful small business, with a graduate degree, working as a Family Office Advisor within a prestigious law firm in Boston, making a six-figure salary, and being in the process of buying my first home in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood, I think back on where I would be without Upward Bound. I may never have known college was possible, I may never have toured Thomas College and decided to go, I may have never transferred and had the opportunity to study abroad and meet my wife, and I may never have believed in myself enough to apply to graduate school. Needless to say, Upward Bound changed my life in more ways than I can explain. Further, I am one of many students whose life was shaped by the support of Upward Bound. I will be forever grateful for the program itself, the people a part of it, and the unbelievable support it offered me and so many others”.
