High Jump’s work depends on a community that believes opportunity should not be limited by a student’s zip code or family income. In July 2026, the organization welcomed a new group of Associate Board members whose experiences span education, public service, advocacy, and High Jump’s own alumni network. Their arrival adds new energy to a shared goal: helping more Chicago middle school students find the academic challenge, confidence, and connections that can shape what comes next.
A bridge between mission and community
Associate Boards can play a distinctive role in nonprofit life. They bring emerging professionals closer to the work, invite new audiences into the mission, and build practical support through fundraising, volunteerism, and relationship-building. High Jump describes its Associate Board in exactly these terms: a place for people who want to expand educational opportunity while strengthening the organization’s wider community.
The new members’ reasons for joining make that purpose tangible. Some point to family ties to education. Others describe personal experience with uneven access to academic resources. Several are High Jump alumni who see their participation as a way to help the next generation encounter opportunities that mattered in their own lives. Those perspectives are different, but they meet in a belief that students deserve to be seen for their potential.
Giving back with lived experience
Alumni representation matters because it connects the organization’s long-term impact to its current work. Former scholars Emmanuel Sarpong and Mario Rodriguez, for example, bring firsthand knowledge of what it can mean to find academic support and new possibilities at a formative age. Their presence also reflects a useful cycle: young people gain confidence and access, then return as advocates who can open doors for others.
Other members add policy, teaching, civic, and community perspectives. Together, that range of experience can help High Jump reach prospective supporters, deepen connections across Chicago, and keep its work grounded in the real circumstances students and families navigate.
Why shared advocacy matters
Educational opportunity is not created by one program alone. It grows through sustained relationships—families who encourage a student, educators who stretch them, alumni who model what is possible, and supporters who invest time and resources. High Jump’s new Associate Board members are joining that ecosystem at a moment when broad community backing remains essential.
As High Jump continues to serve curious and motivated middle school students, this group will help carry the mission outward: telling the story, connecting people to the work, and helping build the resources that make rigorous learning and new pathways possible. Read High Jump’s original announcement.
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