Helping Strayhorn High School Students Prepare for the Next Step

Glosson helps students, families turn college and career dreams into reality

The community of Sarah, Mississippi, sits in the hills that rise above the Delta in western Tate County. As in many other rural areas of the state, the local economy here has historically revolved around agriculture and light industry with few other employment opportunities.

But as that legacy economy loses favor to interest in jobs requiring different skill sets—and in some cases, higher education—students at nearby Strayhorn High School and their parents are learning to navigate new waters. “Most of our students, if they were to complete college, would be first generation,” says Ellen Glosson, a career coach at Strayhorn who previously taught school for 11 years.

Glosson is part of a movement that is gaining momentum across the state via the guidance of Accelerate Mississippi, the state’s workforce development agency. As a career coach in Sarah, she works with the school’s 400 students and their parents, who often have little or no experience applying for financial aid programs, or even much knowledge on how college credit hours work.

On her second day on the job, Glosson met a shy young artist who dreams of becoming an architect. Not only will she be the first person in her family to attend college—she’ll also be the first to graduate high school. 

The student had already discovered the architecture program at Mississippi State University, a two-and-a-half-hour drive southeast of her hometown, but her parents were hesitant to support her. Once Glosson uncovered a trove of scholarship, grant and other financial aid opportunities, her goal came into focus for them. “It’s been a real emotional experience, because [her parents] realized all the opportunities she does have that they didn’t know she had,” Glosson says.

That experience underscores what Glosson says is her biggest challenge to overcome with students and parents in her community—the assumption that higher education is beyond their means. She regularly works with families to find ways of paying for it.

“[With] some parents, we’ll get a tentative estimate [that college will cost them] this much money, and they’re so tearful and excited because they didn’t know the money was there,” she says. “They were like, ‘I could have gone to college if I’d known this was available.’”

Some cases require even more hands-on involvement. Before Thanksgiving 2022, Glosson accompanied a student who has no parents on a visit to Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia.  Glosson recalls, “They were talking to her about labs and credits, and she stopped to ask, ‘I just have a couple of questions. What is the lab? What do you mean by that one hour?’”

Not every case involves higher education, though. Sometimes, Glosson simply helps connect students directly to local employers. “There have been cases when students whose parents have limited income are interested in finding jobs so they help out,” Glosson says. “We’re able to call local fast-food restaurants or Walmart or other employers, and they’re responding to us being career coaches and recommending the students. That’s helped them a lot. The community has been very good about reaching out and letting us help them, too.”

It’s a labor of love for Glosson, whose father once served as principal of Strayhorn High School. The prospect of helping others in her community discover new opportunities is life changing, and not just for the students and their families. “It’s kind of like coming home, but also being able to give back to the people in the area where I grew up,” Glosson says. “When this job became available, it was just a sign that this is where I was supposed to go.”

AccelerateMS serves the people and businesses of Mississippi by developing and deploying workforce strategies to connect individuals with transformative, high-paying careers. By leveraging resources and partnering with organizations that hold complementary missions, AccelerateMS effectuates positive change, creating sustained individual, community and statewide economic prosperity.