Four members of the Class of 2021 are already intent on making their mark on the Baltimore community. Kassa Hun Beyeni, Matthew Dorsey, Ahmed Jackson, and Jayda Lawlah are the founding members of Greyhounds on the Go, a project that works to create relationships between Loyola students and Baltimore students in order to encourage the pursuit of a college education.

Formed in October 2017, Greyhounds on the Go aims to educate and guide Baltimore students through the college process.

“In a lot of these communities, it’s not really [about] a lack of talent,” Lawlah said. “It’s not that these students aren’t capable of going to college, it’s just a lack of opportunity.”

Jackson, the founder of Greyhounds on the Go, was inspired by his counselors from middle school and high school.

“My counselors were fantastic, and I feel most kids don’t have the privilege or the opportunity to have these great counselors. So, my thing was, I wanted someone to be with them throughout the process,” Jackson said. “So, whether that was starting them off in middle school or following them through high school—You know just being their right hand.”

Although the group is still evolving and developing, it is expected to launch in spring 2019. The founders plan to focus on high school students when it first launches, and they hope to host events such as discussions between high school and college students and to bring participating students on a tour of Loyola.

The group also intends to branch out beyond working solely with high school students and to work with middle school students in order to create mentoring relationships between middle school and college students. These partnerships will be designed to ensure that Baltimore students have a solid support structure to depend on as they enter high school and the college application process.

“The most important thing in the college process is your middle school,” said Jackson, referring to advice that it is important to teach a student early to be dedicated to school so that they can start high school on an already strong note. “One of the biggest things that kill kids when they apply to college is that their freshman year and sophomore year of high school is not as strong. Once they get to their junior year they feel like they have to make up all those years, but it’s already too late.”

These Greyhounds are not working alone. The founding members have been busy building relationships with various groups on campus, including Admissions, ALANA services, CCSJ, Campus Ministry, and SGA.

“We have a lot of great departments helping us so far,” Jackson said. “I think it’s important to build these relationships with the Loyola community so it’ll be easier to get things done in the near future. We’re working with a lot of great people so I think that’s the big plus for us.”

According to Lawlah, she and the other founding members see this growing relationship between Loyola and the group as mutually beneficial. In addition to embodying Loyola’s core values of finding strength through community and serving others, “this initiative is providing Loyola another opportunity to connect with the community,” Lawlah said.

The founders of Greyhounds on the Go are excited to see their project launch.

“Be ready. I think this is going to be great when it comes around,” Jackson said.