AURORA, CO (July 17, 2026) Adwoa, a College Track alumna and Colorado native, had long been aware of the colleges and universities in her community. But she hadn’t yet discovered where she would call home for her own college experience.
That changed during high school, when Adwoa and her College Track Aurora peers participated in a College Track–sponsored out-of-state college tour, visiting institutions such as Wake Forest University and the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. It was on that trip that the idea of attending college outside Colorado first took root.
“I was really excited to be there at Wake Forest University. The campus is beautiful, and I was fascinated,” Adwoa recalled. “I didn’t even know this was an option that was available to me.”
What once felt like a distant possibility soon became reality when Adwoa chose to attend college out of state. In 2017, she enrolled at Wake Forest University, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Medicinal Chemistry. She knew from a young age that she wanted to be a pharmacist. With a clear vision for her future, she set her sights on achieving this goal and mapped out the path ahead: complete her undergraduate degree and then attend pharmacy school.
That next step would take her just “down the street” to UNC Chapel Hill. During that same College Track tour, Adwoa remembered feeling overwhelmed when she first visited UNC. “When I went to UNC, I was like, this school is too big. It was huge. It’s a huge public school,” she said.
But after four years studying in North Carolina, she knew she was capable of taking on the challenge. Her determination only grew stronger knowing that UNC is home to one of the top pharmacy programs in the country. Realizing she was exactly where she needed to be fueled her pursuit of graduate school.
Now, after years of hard work, Adwoa is preparing to graduate this May with her pharmacy degree. She has matched to her first-choice PGY1 residency program at The MetroHealth System (Cleveland, OH), marking an exciting step toward becoming an ambulatory care pharmacist. Her mission is clear: improve access to healthcare and medications for underserved communities.
“My goal is to improve access to care and access to medications for underserved populations,” she said. “That drives everything I do while in pharmacy school. That’s my end goal and where I want to be.”
Reflecting on her journey from Aurora to Wake Forest and now UNC, Adwoa is grateful for the experiences that expanded her sense of possibility.
“I definitely wanted to go out of state, just to be a little away from home, so I was excited to attend a school outside of Colorado,” she said. “I met some of my closest friends in college.”
She also credits College Track with introducing her to the schools that would shape her academic path.
“I went to Wake Forest University for undergrad. It was actually through College Track that I learned about Wake Forest, because we did an out-of-state college tour in North Carolina,” she said. “I also learned about UNC during that visit, and now I’m at UNC for pharmacy school. It’s kind of a full-circle moment.”
This summer, 450+ College Track scholars will travel and spend a week on Northern Arizona University (NAU)’s campus, taking classes, experiencing dorm life, and visualizing their higher education futures, while College Track sites continue to host campus visits throughout the year. For some scholars, these trips will mark their very first time stepping onto a college campus. This experience can bring a mix of emotions: awe, curiosity, nervousness, and excitement about what lies ahead.
Moments like these are often where new possibilities begin to take shape. For College Track scholars, gaining access to campuses, meeting college communities, and seeing themselves in these spaces can become powerful building blocks for their futures. And for many, like Adwoa, a single campus visit can plant the seed that turns opportunity into a path and a possibility into reality.
