But then, sometimes, a text message arrives out of nowhere.
This summer, one came from a 2016 Baltimore Polytechnic Institute grad. The recipient was Anthony Harold ’77, an adviser with the CollegeBound Foundation, a Baltimore nonprofit. He guides about 400 students at the STEM-focused public school, step-by-step through the college application process.
In the text, a student who’d been raised in a single-parent home thanked Harold for helping her navigate the challenges of applying, finding scholarships and dealing with mountains of financial-aid paperwork.
But most of all, she thanked him for introducing her to Bucknell, where she, Jessica Henson ’20, received a Charles T. Bauer Scholarship for students from Baltimore city schools and graduated magna cum laude in May 2020.
When the pandemic hit, his counseling moved to Zoom. During hourlong meetings, Harold advised students on questions such as how to choose a college, financial aid and scholarships, and how to navigate the complex verification forms from colleges, the IRS or the Maryland Higher Education Commission.
For Harold, college advising is a second career. After working as a teacher-scholar, he retired as principal of Baltimore’s Dr. Samuel L. Banks High School in 2008 and played tennis five days a week until his knees protested. (After two knee replacements, he’s back on the court.)
He joined CollegeBound in 2011 and brings a busload of high school teens to tour Bucknell each year. He also enjoys coaching the Poly girls’ tennis team, which won the city championship last year.
But Harold’s biggest winners don’t get a trophy. They earn a college diploma.
“There’s a great sense of satisfaction when that happens,” he says. “You celebrate with the kids and then say, ‘OK. Who’s next?’ Because there are 50 others who need help.”