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It’s not always easy being the first at something. In fact, sometimes it can be downright daunting.

Just ask Jose Alex Reyes Arias ’25. On Friday, the ������Ƶ senior from Burlington, North Carolina, will walk across the Commencement stage in Schar Center to receive his degree in strategic communications, becoming the first person in his family to graduate from college. Yet being a first-generation graduate is only part of his remarkable story.

Jose Alex will also make history as the first student to graduate from ������Ƶ after completing three signature programs in the university’s Center for Access and Success, which creates pathways to higher education with programs that support students from pre-kindergarten through high school and college.

After starting as a second grader in the “It Takes A Village” Project literacy program, Jose Alex moved on to complete The ������Ƶ Academy high school college access program before enrolling at ������Ƶ in 2021. He will also graduate as a scholarship recipient in the Odyssey Program, a nationally recognized access initiative that includes ������Ƶ’s largest endowed scholarships, which have enabled hundreds of students with high financial need to earn college degrees.

“I never expected my education to go full circle like this at ������Ƶ,” Jose Alex said. “I’ve worked so hard for it and to realize that I’m going to achieve my dream and graduate from college is amazing. It doesn’t seem real.”

Marcus Elliott, director of the Odyssey Program, praised the soon-to-be graduate for his perseverance and resilience throughout his ������Ƶ education.

“Jose Alex has been a trailblazer his entire life, and it didn’t end when he started at ������Ƶ four years ago,”Elliott said. “To watch him come into his own the last several years has been an absolute joy to witness. He is the first to accomplish this feat, but he won’t be the last.”

The implications of his accomplishments are far-reaching as well.

“There are other students who are coming behind him who will see him as a role model and try and emulate what he did in terms of progressing through these programs,” Elliott said. “That’s what it’s all about, making room for other young people who might not have thought there was room for them at a university like ������Ƶ.”

Nurturing a passion for learning

Jose Alex was born and raised in Burlington, the oldest of four children to Jose Reyes and Victorina Arias. He benefited from outstanding mentors throughout his time in the Alamance-Burlington School System (ABSS), beginning at Newlin Elementary, followed by Broadview Middle School and finally Cummings High School, and credits them with nurturing his passion for learning.

“Having teachers who believe in you and push you to want more is an amazing thing,” he said. “I always had my eye on ������Ƶ as a school that I really wanted to go to, and I credit my teachers for helping to guide me there.”

Jose Alex’s path to ������Ƶ began nearly two decades ago when his mother spotted a flyer at May Memorial Library in downtown Burlington about an ������Ƶ program called the “It Takes A Village” Project. Launched in 2008, The Village assists struggling readers in pre-K through middle school, with involvement from ������Ƶ students, faculty, and staff volunteers, as well as families and ABSS staff. The program provides tutoring and specialized learning services, as well as a two-week summer day camp for students in Title I elementary schools in Alamance County. It is funded primarily through donor gifts, and there is no cost to families.

Arias knew the program was just what her eldest child needed to strengthen his reading skills, which she knew was a key factor in determining his future success. Volunteers from The Village met at the library every Wednesday night, which quickly became Jose Alex’s favorite day of the week. Arias made sure she and her son never missed a session. Eventually, the entire family joined in.

“I never thought of myself as a reader when I was younger, and then it just kind of clicked one day, and I realized I love reading,” Jose Alex said. “It takes my imagination to exciting places and allows me to explore the world.”

Jean Rattigan-Rohr, vice president and professor of education emerita and former director of the Center for Access and Success, founded The Village Project and vividly recalls meeting Jose Alex.

“He was the kindest, most curious child,” she recalled. “He just wanted to know everything and learn as much as he could.”

Before long, Jose Alex’s reading skills improved, followed by higher grades and test scores. As he approached high school, Rattigan-Rohr encouraged him to apply to the ������Ƶ Academy, a multi-phase college access and success program for academically promising ABSS students with significant financial need and/or no family history of college. The program combines three consecutive summer residential experiences on campus with year-round Saturday programs for students. Families are deeply involved, learning how to tackle the college application and financial aid process.

“The ������Ƶ Academy showed me I wanted to pursue higher education,” Jose Alex said. “I never expected it to be this life-altering experience where I was around other like-minded students. It also gave me that socialization experience that I really needed at the time. It forced me out of my bubble.”

Taking classes taught by ������Ƶ faculty was one of his favorite parts of The ������Ƶ Academy, including a course on the importance of budgeting.

“It was such an incredible class,” he said. “We had to go to Harris Teeter one day with $20 and figure out how to feed a family for a week, which was difficult. I still have the notebook of everything I learned in that class.”

Rattigan-Rohr said The Village Project, together with other programs in the Center for Access and Success, demonstrates how higher education institutions can work with their surrounding communities to help create pathways of opportunity for students.

“When students like Jose Alex see themselves as capable, and when universities open their doors to them, we see those students can accomplish more than they ever dreamed possible,” she said.

‘Leaning into the fight’

When it came time to apply to college, Jose Alex knew ������Ƶ was his first choice, but also knew his family could not afford it. He heard about the Odyssey Program, sent in his application and waited. One night, he received a call from Elliott letting him know he had received The Leon and Lorraine Watson Scholarship in the Odyssey Program, which made his dream of going to ������Ƶ a reality.

The scholarship was endowed by an estate gift from Leon “Doc” Watson, a 1925 ������Ƶ graduate, and his wife, Lorraine, who wanted to ensure high-need students from North Carolina could attend ������Ƶ. Jose Alex also received a Communications Fellows scholarship along with the Maity Interiano Annual Scholarship, established with a generous gift from the 2007 School of Communications graduate.

“My family and I were so excited because it meant I did not have to worry about my parents trying to pay for my college,” he said.

At first, things started off well. Yet by the end of his first year, Jose Alex was struggling. Adjusting to the demands of college life and some personal challenges began to take a toll.

“I had some very low points during my time at ������Ƶ,” he said. “When my first year ended, I was not sure if this was my way of life anymore. I felt like I was losing sense of who I was, and a lot of the people around me didn’t understand that. I was given so many great opportunities, but I didn’t feel like I knew who I was anymore. I guess I had imposter syndrome.”

He leaned on his faculty and staff mentors for guidance, including his academic advisor, Vanessa Bravo, professor of strategic communications and assistant dean of the School of Communications.

“He’s an example of a person who goes through challenging circumstances and doesn’t give up,” Bravo said. “By graduating, he’s making his family proud and ������Ƶ proud.”

Elliott agreed. “He challenged himself and, to his credit, he clenched his fists and leaned into the fight,” he said. “Once that happened, it was all systems go. It had nothing to do with his academic abilities. It was a struggle with confidence and how to prioritize his efforts. He has a kind spirit that you can’t help but root for his success.”

Catherine Parsons, former assistant director of the Odyssey Program, is another mentor who has been rooting for Jose Alex since he started in The ������Ƶ Academy. She has watched him grow into a student who participated in some of ������Ƶ’s high-impact learning programs, including undergraduate research, Periclean Scholars civic engagement initiative and ������Ƶ in LA as part of the university’s Study USA and National Campus programs.

“I don’t think he was thinking he would do any of those things when he came to ������Ƶ, but he kept saying yes to opportunities he had to apply for,” said Parsons, director of undergraduate programs in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business. “He’s more courageous and intentional than he thinks.”

Classmate Jasmine Walker ’25 first met Jose Alex in the ������Ƶ Academy and they’ve been close friends ever since, including serving as mentors in The Village and taking part in the Odyssey Program, where Walker received a scholarship funded by the estate of alumna Edna Truitt Noiles ’44 and husband Doug Noiles. They also traveled to Costa Rica last January as part of Periclean Scholars, a three-year, cohort-based learning experience that promotes global civic engagement, both locally and internationally.

“There are a lot of odds stacked against low-income and first-generation students because of the lack of resources, but I think it’s awesome that Jose Alex took the steps he did to improve his future,” Walker said. “It shows other students that if you work hard enough and are motivated enough, you can do this, too.”

On Friday, Jose Alex will carry the hopes of his family with him as he realizes his dream of becoming a college graduate. There is perhaps no one more excited to witness this moment than his parents.

“I am happy that he’s going to graduate since it’s a huge accomplishment in our family,” Arias said. “I never expected for someone in my family to have the chance to go to college. It makes all the challenges worth it for him.”

“I feel proud that he will get to graduate from ������Ƶ, a place that has been involved with his academic life for a very long time,” Reyes said. “For him to make his dream a reality, be the first member of our family to finish a high level of education and make a career for himself, I couldn’t be more proud.”

Jose Alex said he’s grateful for his ������Ƶ experience, and the mentors and donors who made it possible, and would not change a thing.

“Life isn’t always about the highs. It really is just having to experience it all and learn from it,” he said. “All I’ve ever wanted in life was to go to school, especially at ������Ƶ, and to be successful as a student. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be at ������Ƶ.”

About the Center for Access and Success

The value of community and a concern for the common good underpin the mission of ������Ƶ’s Center for Access and Success, which seeks to help students from all backgrounds access and succeed in higher education.

The center serves individuals in the ������Ƶ and broader Alamance County community from pre-K to college and includes the following six initiatives: It Takes a Village Project, ������Ƶ Academy, Odyssey Program, First-Generation Student Support Services, iBelong and Beyond 12.