HEAR Scholarship Foundation Scholars: Mentored by Someone Who’s Walked in Their Shoes

HEAR Scholarship Foundation is bridging the opportunity gap for low-income students, offering the encouragement and support they need to pursue a college education. The majority of HEAR participants become the first in their families to attend college. HEAR certainly has an impressive track record; a full 98% of HEAR scholars graduate college, and some of them go on to attain graduate degrees.

How is HEAR managing this incredible feat that has resulted in almost 130 HEAR participants getting a college education? For one thing, as you might have guessed from the name of this foundation, scholarships. A college education is expensive, and beyond the means of many young people from low-income neighborhoods. These students need financial assistance to go to college and without college, they might never break the cycle of poverty that keeps kids from getting ahead.

Paid internships also make a difference for these young scholars. But beyond financial assistance, students need guidance in navigating skills such as interviewing and résumé writing, and they also need stable, consistent mentors who care about them and their journey. All in all, HEAR, our latest small grant recipient, provides Chicagoland scholars with everything they need to get a good education and a more successful future.

We put some questions to HEAR Scholarship Foundation Marketing and Communications Manager Lucy Burne to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us a bit about the young people you serve, if you would. What’s your demographic?

Lucy Burne: HEAR serves low-income, underrepresented high school students from the Chicagoland area, supporting them in successfully pursuing and completing a college degree. Any high school senior who meets our eligibility criteria may apply to HEAR’s College Program. 70% of our current college population are first-generation college-goers and almost 90% identify as ethnically diverse. Since our inception in 2011, HEAR Scholars have come from over 80 high schools within the Chicagoland area and attended 88 different 4-year institutions of higher education within the United States and beyond.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of the history of the HEAR Scholarship Foundation?

Lucy Burne: HEAR awarded its first scholarships to just four students in 2011. Enrollment has grown steadily since then. Initially, classes grew slowly as awareness of both the scholarship program and the need for donations developed.

In 2012, HEAR added another piece to the puzzle on the road to college success by introducing its Mentoring Program. The majority of HEAR scholars are first-generation college students with limited access to guidance on navigating college life. Studies show that students with a dedicated mentor have significantly higher graduation rates, particularly low-income and first-generation students. With this in mind, HEAR launched a mentoring program to support its scholars as they adjust to college.

In 2014, HEAR began a period of continued growth in scholarship numbers. By 2019, after several years of significant increases in HEAR class sizes and the overall scholar population, HEAR recognized the need to refine its mentoring structure. Now, each new HEAR scholar has a dedicated mentor who has passed a background check and completed training. Mentors and mentees communicate monthly through FaceTime, Zoom, Google Meet, phone, text, or email. Whenever possible, they meet in person twice a year, and mentors keep HEAR staff updated on their relationship via an online survey.

In addition to the mentoring program, in recent years, HEAR has also been developing partnerships with organizations in the Chicagoland area. These partnerships offer scholars relevant, paid internship opportunities. Over the last 12 months, these partnerships have also provided workshops for HEAR Scholars to learn important skills, including interviewing, résumé writing, and ensuring an appropriate online presence.

HEAR reached its goal of awarding 30 scholarships per year for the first time in 2019, with plans to maintain this enrollment level until it could expand its team. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted HEAR’s fundraising, requiring a temporary reduction in enrollment in 2021 and 2022. However, the foundation is pleased to report that numbers have rebounded in the past two years. In May 2024, HEAR enrolled 29 scholars into its College Success Program, marking a commitment of over $4.5 million toward helping exemplary high school students in financial need access higher education.

To date, over 130 students have graduated from HEAR’s College Success Program, and the foundation is proud of its impressive 98% four-year college graduation rate.

Kars4Kids: Are all the youth in your program first gen scholars?

Lucy Burne: Not all students in HEAR’s program are first-generation scholars. HEAR’s program is open to any high school senior who meets the eligibility criteria. However, about 70% of our current students are first-gen scholars. These students also tend to take more advantage of, and benefit most from, HEAR’s additional resources and support mechanisms, such as mentoring and skill-building workshops.

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about your college scholarships? How much assistance do you offer your scholar participants?

Lucy Burne: HEAR scholars benefit from both financial scholarships and mentorship, receiving guidance and resources throughout their college journey. Each recipient is awarded a $20,000 tuition scholarship, paid directly to their college in increments of $5,000 per semester over four years. The scholarship is renewable because HEAR believes that accountability fosters success.

Applicants must demonstrate financial need, meet HEAR’s minimum academic requirements, and show that they are individuals of outstanding character who are active, caring members of their communities. Once accepted into HEAR’s Program, recipients must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher to continue receiving their scholarship.

Kars4Kids: You started your current scholarship model with four scholars in 2011. How many scholars do you have today?

Lucy Burne: HEAR’s current scholar population is 94. Over 130 students have now graduated from our program and the foundation maintains a 98% graduation success rate.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about your mentoring program. How does it work? Do all the youth at HEAR have a mentor? Are they professional mentors or volunteers?

Lucy Burne: Each new HEAR scholar is paired with a dedicated mentor. Mentors and mentees communicate monthly through FaceTime, Zoom, Google Meet, phone, text, or email, and whenever possible, they meet in person on an annual basis. Mentors keep HEAR staff updated on their relationship through an online survey, and if a scholar shows signs of concern, mentors alert staff, who then assist in resolving the issue.

All mentors are volunteers recruited from various sources, including referrals from HEAR staff or board members, fundraising events, and social media posts. Currently, most mentors come from our corporate partners, and in recent years, we have been thrilled to welcome HEAR graduates back as mentors. Who better to guide scholars through college than someone who has walked in their shoes?

Kars4Kids: How can students take part in the programs you offer? Are the students in your programs referred to you, somehow? Perhaps from their schools?

Lucy Burne: Students can apply directly to HEAR’s program by meeting our eligibility criteria. Each November, HEAR opens an online application on its website. Students have until early February to apply for a place in the program as freshmen the following fall. HEAR encourages students to learn about us through outreach efforts in high schools, community organizations, and college-access networks.

Many applicants find us on their own from online scholarship search engines, but we also receive numerous referrals from high school counselors, teachers, community leaders, and current or former HEAR scholars who are familiar with the foundation’s mission and know students who would benefit from our support. Additionally, some students hear about our program through word of mouth, social media, or through partnerships with organizations that support first-generation and low-income students.

Kars4Kids: Can you name some of the colleges that have accepted your scholar participants? What percentage of your program graduates, graduate from college? Do any of the scholars continue in their studies to work toward graduate degrees?

Lucy Burne: HEAR Scholars have attended almost 90 different colleges and universities throughout the US and beyond. The college with the highest population of HEAR Scholars is the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This in-state institution has always proven a popular choice. The foundation also supports scholars at UIC, Loyola, Harvard, Michigan, USC, Duke, and Syracuse. There is a full list on the HEAR website – https://www.hearfoundation.org/about-us/scholars/. The foundation’s current college graduation rate is 98%. Since the program’s inception, only three scholars have not completed their college journey – all three were during the COVID pandemic. Many of our scholars continue on to post-graduation education. Unfortunately, we do not have the statistics for those numbers!

Kars4Kids: Would you share a success story for our readers?

Lucy Burne: This is a story recently submitted to us by one of our graduates “Hello everyone, my name is Nick. I was born on the West side of Chicago, attended Saint Patrick High School and continued my academic & athletic career at Illinois Wesleyan University, graduated in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. I’ve been working at State Farm headquarters in Bloomington for a little over 5 years. My wife & I recently celebrated our two-year wedding anniversary, bought a house in April, and have a 10-month-old daughter, Willa.

“At a young age, I learned life is not fair. As a kid, I was unaware why the gas was shut off, why the lights would not turn on, or why the water wasn’t working. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized we were constantly moving not because we wanted to, but because we HAD to. Being evicted and having to move over 15 times was not easy growing up. In middle school (6th – 8th grade), I was homeless for two of the three years and was often made fun of for smelling, being too skinny or not having “cool” things. Not a single person at my school knew I was homeless or what I was going through. My parents divorced and my mother gave full custody to my father. Through everything, I kept a smile on my face every day, thanks to basketball. Going into my 8th grade year, my two wonderful aunts went to court and were granted custody of me. After my aunts gained custody of me, I was able to obtain the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund (DMSF) which allowed me to attend an amazing high school. DMSF introduced me to HEAR’s Executive Director Vera Pollina, and I established a great relationship with her. Through this relationship, I was introduced to the HEAR Scholarship Foundation.

“I share all of this because none of my achievements would be possible without HEAR. I’m a proud recipient of a HEAR scholarship (freshman class of 2015). Without this scholarship, I would not have the life I have today. I would not have been able to continue my academic & athletic career at Illinois Wesleyan University. I would not be working for State Farm. I would not have met my beautiful wife or have my beautiful daughter. I would not have been able to afford the house my family lives in today. I am not sure what exactly my life would have looked like without the scholarship, but I am extremely grateful to have the life I do because of HEAR and its supporters. Not only for myself, but my family as well, we want to thank you for your contribution to this amazing foundation.”

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the HEAR Scholarship Foundation?

Lucy Burne: The foundation is committed to continuing its mission to inspire, encourage, and support low-income college bound students through its College Success Program until such time as there is no need for our services. In the short time, HEAR hopes to increase its capacity through awarding more scholarships in an annual basis.

One of the long-term goals of the foundation is to expand its offering to support students who chose to attend community college and attain an associate’s degree before continuing to college to complete a bachelor’s degree.