Photo Credit: Andrew Schmidt.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Promise Zone) -- When Isabel Herrera graduated from Southwest Middle High School in 2024, she knew one thing about her future: She wasn’t ready to decide what came next.
So she didn’t.
Instead of heading straight to college without knowing what she wanted to study, Isabel took a gap year. It gave her time to work, think about her interests and begin figuring out what she wanted for herself.
Today, she’s a student at Grand Rapids Community College, studying pre-business with plans to pursue marketing at Grand Valley State University. And while her path to college wasn’t necessarily a straight line, Isabel says the Grand Rapids Promise Zone helped make it possible.
“I could not be more grateful,” she said. “If the Promise Zone is available to you, use it.”
Growing up in two languages
Isabel was part of the first graduating class at Southwest Middle High School, a unique GRPS school designed for bilingual students, where she learned in both English and Spanish.
For Isabel, whose father is Mexican and mother is white, the bilingual education offered plenty of opportunities. It also presented challenges.
A subject like math, for example, might be taught in English one year and Spanish the next. And math wasn’t always easy for her.
One teacher helped change the way she approached it.
Christopher Woods, her math and science teacher, showed her a different way to understand a subject she had struggled with. The experience helped Isabel see that something difficult didn’t have to remain out of reach.
High school provided other lessons that she appreciates more now than she did at the time.
Presentations were one of them.
“I dreaded presentations,” she said.
But standing in front of classmates again and again helped a shy student begin developing confidence she now recognizes as an important skill.
And Isabel had an unusual high school experience from the beginning. She entered Southwest as a freshman during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the new school had few of the routines and traditions that older schools inherit. By graduation, Isabel had become president of the student council and was one of just about 55 students in Southwest’s first graduating class.
Giving herself time to find the right path
Isabel first heard about the Grand Rapids Promise Zone as a high school junior when Promise Zone staff member Morgan Hannah visited Southwest.
She remembers hearing about free tuition. She didn’t yet understand what it could mean for her.
That changed as graduation approached.
Isabel wasn’t sure what she wanted to study or whether she was ready for college. Her parents had different perspectives. Her mother was comfortable with her taking time to decide. Her father, who immigrated from Mexico, hoped she would go to college.
Isabel chose to take a gap year.
But one important connection from high school remained.
Without a high school counselor to turn to after graduation, Isabel reached out to Morgan. That connection helped her navigate FAFSA and the other steps involved in going to college.
By then, the Promise Zone had become something much more tangible than the program she had first heard about as a junior.
When Isabel was finally ready for college, there was little question about where she would begin.
GRCC felt like the obvious choice.
“Graduate, then free college at GRCC,” she said. “It was a no-brainer.”
Prep with Promise Zone orientation, followed by a campus tour to find the buildings where she would attend classes, made college start to feel real.
A bigger world at GRCC
Going from a graduating class of roughly 55 students to GRCC was an adjustment.
At Southwest, Isabel had known some of her classmates since kindergarten. Suddenly, she was entering a much larger campus where she didn’t know many people.
Her first day brought the expected nerves, although having taken dual-enrollment courses at GRCC during high school gave her some confidence.
The biggest challenge?
“Parking,” she joked.
The more significant adjustment came in learning to take ownership of her education.
College professors weren’t going to constantly remind her about assignments and deadlines. Isabel had to manage her own schedule and her own time.
That independence has also become one of her favorite parts of college: choosing her schedule, deciding how to spend her time and taking greater responsibility for herself.
She has found professors who made an impression, too, including English professor Roel Garcia. Isabel enjoyed writing essays in Garcia’s class and appreciated his approach to teaching.
And slowly, the student who once dreaded raising her hand or speaking in front of the class has continued becoming more confident.
More than tuition
Now that she is attending GRCC, Isabel understands something about the Grand Rapids Promise Zone that she didn’t fully grasp when she first heard about it.
The support goes well beyond tuition.
For Isabel, Promise Zone assistance has helped with expenses such as books, parking and food. Just as importantly, it has connected her with people, resources and experiences that have helped her navigate college and begin thinking about what comes after it.
When she first started at GRCC, Isabel met monthly with a support coordinator who became a go-to person for questions, helped her navigate scheduling and college resources, and made sure she stayed on track. Promise Zone students also have access to academic advising and other support designed to help them make intentional choices about their education and future.
But for Isabel, some of the most meaningful opportunities have happened outside the classroom.
Through the Promise Zone, she has been invited to events that put her in rooms with business and community leaders and introduced her to people and experiences she otherwise might not have encountered. Those opportunities have helped Isabel, who describes herself as a shy kid growing up, become more comfortable putting herself out there, making connections and thinking about her own career possibilities.
That kind of exposure is intentional. Through a partnership with the Grand Rapids Chamber, Promise Zone students can access career exploration opportunities, connections with local employers and greater exposure to industries and career paths in the Grand Rapids community.
“You have support and opportunities that other students don’t have,” Isabel said.
For a student now interested in marketing, content and social media, those connections have value beyond college coursework. They are helping her build confidence, expand her network and see more clearly where her education might take her.
The financial support remains significant. Removing that worry has made an “indescribable difference” for her family, Isabel said. College would have represented a major financial challenge, and she isn’t sure how she would have paid for it otherwise.
Instead, she gets to focus on being a student, exploring her interests and preparing for what comes next.
“That would be another stress,” Isabel said.
Finding room for business and creativity
Isabel’s plans for the future are still taking shape, and she’s comfortable with that.
Once, she pictured becoming an illustrator. Art remains important to her, but she ultimately decided she didn’t want to depend on her passion as her profession.
Working at Goodwill helped her recognize other strengths and interests. She began exploring business administration and discovered marketing, a field where she could combine business with the creativity she enjoys.
Now enrolled in a pre-business pathway, Isabel plans to eventually study marketing at Grand Valley State University through the partnership with the Promise Zone. She is interested in content and social media as well as market and consumer research, and a job-shadowing experience with Goodwill’s marketing team helped her see more of the possibilities.
She’s already getting a chance to put some of those interests into practice, helping create social media content for the Promise Zone. It’s another opportunity to build her skills and gain real-world experience as she considers where a career in marketing could take her.
Her dream is eventually to put those skills to work for a nonprofit. She’s also considering a minor related to environmental sustainability.
Ask where she pictures herself five years from now, and Isabel has an image in mind.
“In an office wearing a suit,” she said.
More than anything, she wants to be successful and excelling at something she cares about.
College has helped her realize how many different versions of that future are possible.
Her advice: It’s OK not to be ready
If Isabel could talk with the shy high school freshman she used to be, she knows what she would tell her.
Be more confident. Take advantage of the resources around you. Build relationships. Put yourself out there.
And to current GRPS students wondering what happens after graduation, Isabel offers advice shaped by her own experience: You don’t have to have everything figured out immediately. The Promise Zone provides support wherever a student may be at in their journey.
College is a commitment, she said, and students should take advantage of counselors and other school resources to ask questions and explore their options. She also recommends experiences such as job shadowing before choosing a career path.
Most importantly, she believes students should give themselves permission to be honest about whether they are ready.
“I know what it’s like to not be ready for college,” she said. “It’s OK if you change your mind.”
Taking a year before beginning at GRCC didn’t put Isabel behind. It helped her move forward when she was ready.
Today, she has a job, attends college and is developing a clearer sense of where she wants to go. For someone who remembers being too shy to raise her hand in class, those are accomplishments worth celebrating.
And she knows the Promise Zone has played an important role in making that growth possible.
She has a simple message for other eligible GRPS students:
“If the Promise Zone is available to you, use it.”
Learn More: Grand Rapids Promise Zone Scholarship.
