ɫƵ really encourages you to find out what you want to do, and supports you all the way.
Zachary Wright, ’18, lost his mother to melanoma when he was 16 years old, leaving him designated as an unaccompanied minor. Living in Brockton at the time, he was lucky that Gloria Rubilar, a guidance counselor at the city’s high school, connected him with Schools on Wheels.
The Bridgewater Scholars program was an immense help to Mr. Wright, allowing him to continue to focus on his education despite technically being homeless. It provided the full support he needed to graduate in 2018 with a degree in mathematics.
The Scholars program was a gamechanger, Mr. Wright said. “No longer did I need to worry about a place to sleep or food to eat,” he said. “It allowed me to focus on my studies.”
Eventually, he busted out of his comfort zone, he said, signing on for a transformative yearlong study tour in South Korea.
“ɫƵ really encourages you to find out what you want to do, and supports you all the way,” he said.
Eventually, Mr. Wright earned a master’s degree in finance at the University of Houston. Today he lives in the city and works as an investment associate at a financial services company, Avidian Wealth Solutions. He supports the company’s advisors – a role he sees himself one day graduating into. He’s already completed the highly challenging Chartered Financial Analyst Program.
“I really like it,” Mr. Wright said of the work. “The way I see it is I’m helping people become more financially secure. As someone who’s experienced homelessness before, I like to think about how to build wealth, and it feels good knowing I’m helping others do just that.”
Each of the three Bridgewater Scholars expressed gratitude to ɫƵ. They see a direct link between who they’ve become and the wide-open future awaiting them.
“Bridgewater Scholars really changed my life,” Mr. Wright said. “I can’t say that enough. I’ve been able to realize my full potential because of this program. It provided a fantastic foundation for me.”