Dan Riley once likened a student to a white wolf he had spotted in Yellowstone National Park.

The student had been dealt a difficult hand, Riley wrote in a letter to Bowdoin College, but he was brilliant. Remarkable. The kind of student you don’t want to let slip by.

In Riley’s 28 years as a guidance counselor at Skowhegan Area High School, former students have earned degrees, gotten jobs and, in one case, accepted a full-ride to Bowdoin. For some, Riley is the only one who has taken an interest in their futures.

“The thing that I am most driven to do is even the odds,” Riley said. “Give a kid a fighting chance to be something different than what they come from.”

Sitting in his window-lit office with glasses perched high on his forehead, Riley, 56, rifles through a stack of questionnaires that will help him get to know the new students in his caseload of more than 200. He gives extra attention to them and seniors approaching graduation.

MacKenzie Dawe, a Skowhegan alum and first-year student at the University of Maine at Orono, said after she applied to college, Riley called the schools to advocate for her acceptance.

“He really cared about how I was doing,” said Dawe, 18. “He made the high-school experience a lot easier for me.”

Riley works doubly hard to encourage students who are struggling. What most students need isn’t sympathy, he says, but someone in their corner who wants them to succeed.

“I like helping the kids dream big, no matter where they come from,” he said. “My name is not Mr. Rogers; it’s Mr. Riley.”

Maine State Credit Union is dedicated to supporting the people, traditions, and communities that keep our state strong. Learn more at mainestatecu.org.