KIMBALL -- As the Kimball chapter of the High School Compass Scholar Program has completed its first year, the creator and students reflect on the of the program. 

It began in the fall of 2024 where four students were chosen to participate in a mentorship to prepare them for college and career possibilities. 

Four students are entering their second year of the program, with four more students joining for their first year. 

Sophomore Emmaline Tabor is one of the newest students to join the program, and she says she is looking forward to the guidance in choosing the right college for her where she can gain the education to become an elementary teacher. 

“I wanted to join the program because I thought of it as a way to prepare for my future and figure out other steps I can take to get me where I want to be, get good grades in my classes, and get into colleges I want to be in,” Tabor said. 

A former Kimball graduate Nicholas Thomas-Lewis and fellow Rhodes Scholar Coleman Warren co-founded the program to provide students in rural communities with experiences that foster growth and future success. 

“The first year was successful, I’ve been very excited with how the program has gone so far,” Lewis said. “There is a little bit of piloting and experimentation happening, but these four students have been able to take it in stride, and we’ve been able to cover a lot of ground already in teaching them how to build trajectory after high school to get where they want to be.” 

The mentors have been guiding them on leadership skills, career pathways, navigating college admissions, talking about what factors go into creating their ideal college list, and ACT prep. 

“We want to help them think about those things that aren’t necessary in the day-to-day curriculum in regular high school,” Lewis said. “The mentorship is really meant to give them someone to lean on as they navigate the whole universe of factors that they’re trying to work through to make those really big decisions.” 

One area Lewis said they want to grow now that the chapter is more established with two classes, is to build on community engagement. 

“The idea is to start implementing community service projects, so the students will be spearheading one or two projects themselves, creating the ideas themselves, so they can be excited about seeing the impact they’ve created on the community,” Lewis said. 

The Compass Scholar Program also serves two schools in Arkansas – where co-founder Warren is from – and they hope to continue expanding. 

Lewis said having gone through Kimball’s education himself and moving on to Pennsylvania for college, continuing at the University of Oxford in the UK and now getting his PhD, he has not seen a lot of people from towns like Kimball.  

“There is so much value to small rural America, to these communities, and [Warren and I] talked and wondered ‘where are all the rural voices in these spaces,” Lewis said. “We knew that we had so much more privilege and access by being able to be in these spaces and wanted to make sure that we weren't the only ones that got there. We want to do everything in our power that the pathway we took could be as open as possible for every kid who comes after us.” 

Lewis said they are always looking for community partnerships and are currently recruiting mentors to work with the students, so if you’re interested or have any questions, you can visit the website Compassfound.org or email Lewis at Ncl@compassfound.org.