As a second grader, Jose Alex Reyes Arias sat on the floor of May Memorial Library in Burlington, North Carolina, strengthening his reading skills with help from Elon student volunteers. Nearly two decades later, he stood on the stage at Schar Center, receiving his diploma from the university that had shaped him from the very beginning. In between, he didn’t just find his voice. He found his purpose.
The first in his family to graduate from college, Reyes Arias also made history as the first Elon student to complete all three of the university’s signature access programs: the “It Takes a Village” Project, the Elon Academy and the Odyssey Program. Together, these programs, housed in Elon’s Center for Access and Success, create pathways to higher education for students beginning in pre-kindergarten and continuing through college.
And this summer, Reyes Arias was able to add one more chapter to his Elon story when he returned to the Elon Academy, this time as a graduate intern, mentoring high school students in the same program that changed his life.
“I wanted a final moment with Elon,” he says. “Coming back this summer really made it feel full circle.”
The experience reminded him of who he once was: a high school student overwhelmed by college decisions, craving guidance. Now, he was the one answering questions and offering advice on balance, purpose and personal growth. “It was rewarding to share the same advice that once helped me,” he says. “College is about achieving, yes, but don’t forget the fun. Both can coexist.”
A Love of Learning
Born and raised in Burlington, Reyes Arias is the oldest of four children to Jose Reyes and Victorina Arias. He benefited from teachers and mentors in the Alamance-Burlington School System who nurtured his love of learning and inspired him to dream big.
“Having teachers who believed in you and pushed you to want more was an amazing thing,” he says. “I always had my eye on Elon as a school that I really wanted to go to, and I credit my teachers for helping to guide me there.”
His path began to take shape when his mother discovered a flyer for the “It Takes a Village” Project at May Memorial Library in downtown Burlington. Launched in 2008, the free, donor-supported program serves struggling readers from pre-k through middle school with the help of Elon students, faculty and staff volunteers as well as families and school system staff. The sessions, held Wednesday nights, quickly became his favorite part of the week. Arias made sure she and her son never missed a session. Eventually, the entire family joined in.
“He was the kindest, most curious child,” recalls Jean Rattigan-Rohr, vice president and professor of education emerita and former director of the Center for Access and Success, who founded the Village Project. “He just wanted to know everything and learn as much as he could.”
Before long, his reading skills improved, followed by higher grades and test scores. As he approached high school, Rattigan-Rohr encouraged him to apply to the Elon Academy, a multi-phase college access program for academically promising Alamance County students with significant financial need or no family history of college. The program combines three consecutive summer residential experiences on campus with year-round Saturday programs for students. Families are deeply involved, learning how to tackle the college application and financial aid process.
“The Elon Academy showed me I wanted to pursue higher education,” Reyes Arias says. “I never expected it to be this life-altering experience where I was around other like-minded students. It also gave me that socialization experience that I needed at the time. It forced me out of my bubble.”
He still remembers taking a budgeting class taught by an Elon professor as part of the Elon Academy. “It was such an incredible class,” he says. “We had to go to Harris Teeter one day with $20 and figure out how to feed a family for a week, which was difficult. I still have the notebook of everything I learned in that class.”
All I’ve ever wanted in life was to go to school, especially at Elon, and to be successful as a student. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity I had to be
at Elon.
Rattigan-Rohr said the Village Project, together with the Elon Academy and other programs in the Center for Access and Success, demonstrates how higher education institutions can work with their surrounding communities to help create pathways of opportunity for students.
“When students like Jose Alex see themselves as capable, and when universities open their doors to them, we see those students can accomplish more than they ever dreamed possible,” she says.
A Moment of Doubt
When it came time to apply to college, Reyes Arias knew Elon was his first choice, but also knew cost would be a barrier. Through the Elon Academy, he learned about the Odyssey Program, a nationally recognized initiative offering some of Elon’s largest endowed scholarships to high-achieving students with financial need.
He applied and was selected for the Leon and Lorraine Watson Scholarship, endowed by an estate gift from 1925 graduate Leon “Doc” Watson and his wife, Lorraine. He also earned a Communications Fellows scholarship and the Maity Interiano Annual Scholarship, established by the 2007 School of Communications graduate.
“My family and I were so excited because it meant I did not have to worry about my parents trying to pay for my college,” he says.
While Reyes Arias started college on a strong note, the end of his first year brought personal challenges. The transition to college life and the pressure of being a first-generation student took a toll on his mental health.
“I had some very low points during my time at Elon,” he says. “When my first year ended, I was not sure if this was my way of life anymore. I felt like I was losing sense of who I was, and a lot of the people around me didn’t understand that. I was given so many great opportunities, but I didn’t feel like I knew who I was anymore. I guess I had imposter syndrome.”
He leaned on his faculty and staff mentors for support and guidance, including his academic adviser, Vanessa Bravo, professor of strategic communications and assistant dean of the School of Communications. “He’s an example of a person who goes through challenging circumstances and doesn’t give up,” Bravo says. “By graduating, he’s made his family proud and Elon proud.”
Catherine Parsons, former assistant director of the Odyssey Program, has known Reyes Arias since he joined the Elon Academy and says his growth has been remarkable. During his time at Elon, Reyes Arias took full advantage of high-
impact opportunities including undergraduate research, the Periclean Scholars civic engagement initiative and the Elon in LA program as part of Study USA.
“I don’t think he was thinking he would do any of those things when he came to Elon, but he kept saying yes to opportunities he had to apply for,” says Parsons, now director of undergraduate programs in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business. “He’s more courageous and intentional than he thinks.”
A Milestone Moment
On Friday, May 23, Reyes Arias entered Schar Center carrying the hopes and dreams of his family. He walked out with a degree in strategic communications and a deep sense of fulfillment, not only for what he had achieved but for the journey that brought him this far. No one was more excited to witness that moment than his parents.
“I never expected for someone in my family to have the chance to go to college,” says his mother, Victorina Arias. “It makes all the challenges worth it for him.”
His father, Jose Reyes, adds, “I felt proud that he was able to graduate from Elon, a place that has been involved with his academic life for a very long time. For him to make his dream a reality, be the first member of our family to finish a high level of education and make a career for himself, I couldn’t be prouder.”
Now, with a diploma in hand and a final Elon experience that taught him the work ethic needed to lead and sustain meaningful programs, Reyes Arias is writing his next chapter. While he’s applying for corporate communications roles in Raleigh and Charlotte, the summer internship reaffirmed his passion for nonprofit and higher education work. Wherever he lands, he says, he’s committed to staying grounded in purpose and open to what comes next.
“Life isn’t always about the highs. It really is just having to experience it all and learn from it,” he says. “All I’ve ever wanted in life was to go to school, especially at Elon, and to be successful as a student. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity I had to be at Elon.”