During the first year of the global pandemic, I became the first person in my family to earn a college degree. Less than a year later, I lost my grandfather to COVID-19 and my mother to cancer. At 22, I became the legal guardian of my younger brother. I had no blueprint, no safety net — but I did have a freshly earned degree and an unwavering community that refused to let me fall. That community was TRIO. Specifically, Upward Bound.

I’m proud to be from Jonesboro, a small coastal town in Washington County — one of the most rural and economically challenged counties in the country. In ninth grade, Upward Bound found me. What began as two summers on the Bowdoin College campus became the scaffolding for everything that followed. Upward Bound didn’t just prepare me for college — it helped me imagine a life beyond it.

Through UB, I toured Smith College, where I later studied environmental science and architecture. During my junior year, I was honored as one of just 55 students nationwide — and only the third in Smith’s history — to receive a Udall Scholarship for my commitment to climate justice. Today, I work as an aviation sustainability consultant at C&S Companies, helping airports across North America advance their sustainability goals. When someone recently asked, “How does someone from Jonesboro, Maine, become an aviation sustainability consultant?” I didn’t hesitate: “TRIO Upward Bound.”

TRIO doesn’t just support students academically — it reshapes what’s possible. Upward Bound students are more than twice as likely to earn a bachelor’s degree by age 24 than their peers in the lowest income quartile. Yet, in President Trump’s proposed FY26 budget, TRIO was eliminated, dismissed as a “relic” no longer necessary for college access and completion.

But those of us living and working in rural Maine — those of us who are first-generation, low-income, or both — know the barriers to higher education are still very real. Without TRIO, those barriers threaten to box out talented, motivated students from educational and career opportunities. Maine — and the country — cannot afford that.

TRIO’s roots lie in the anti-poverty movement of the 1960s. Today, its eight programs serve students from middle school through adulthood. These programs are economic drivers in their communities. They are the insurance policy for the Pell Grant, ensuring that federal investments in low-income students result in degree completion. Most TRIO programs are hosted by public institutions with high numbers of Pell recipients — institutions that often lack the resources to support students without TRIO’s help.

TRIO lifts families and communities. After college, in the midst of profound personal loss, I became both sister and guardian. Today, my brother — also a proud alumnus of Bowdoin’s UB program— is preparing to attend Skidmore College on a full scholarship. I’m endlessly proud but not surprised. He had the support of Upward Bound advisors, mentors and peers too — resources that future students will lose if TRIO funding is not protected.

We are just two of the millions of lives touched by TRIO. In fact, 870,000 students are served by TRIO annually in all 50 states and the territories. In Maine, more than 7,500 students receive life-changing support through grants totaling more than $11 million. TRIO helps dismantle the structural barriers that prevent first-generation, low-income and disabled students from earning degrees— barriers like navigating the admissions and financial aid process, standardized testing, academic preparation and the cultural distance between a first gen and college-going identity.

TRIO closes those gaps not only with resources, but with belief — in our potential, in our stories, in our capacity to lead.

Behind every TRIO dollar spent is a name and a future. Despite what you might think from the FY 26 budget, TRIO has broad bipartisan support and is one of the country’s most successful and proven programs. If funding is not preserved, promising students will lose opportunities for a better life and their communities will suffer. If funding is protected, TRIO will continue to raise generations of scientists, engineers, artists and teachers out of the places most often shut out of the American dream.

And that is something worth fighting for.