Five people who grew up in West Chester and left for school. Some of us came back. All of us are still here in the ways that count.
The five of us grew up here, and we all left for school. Not because we didn't love where we came from: there are small things you take for granted that you only recognize from a distance.
What we found out there was perspective.
Long stretches away, surrounded by people whose lives looked nothing like ours, learning things you can't learn somewhere familiar. None of that was lost when we graduated. We carried it with us: some of us back to Chester County, some of us elsewhere, all of us still tied to the place that raised us.
There are students here right now who want that same experience and can't have it, for one reason: money. That's the only thing standing between them and it. So we're removing it.
35%
Only about a third of public four-year colleges are affordable to a student from a low-income family. For families in the lowest income quarter, the price after aid eats close to 90% of what they earn in a year.
National College Attainment Network, September 2025.
29%
Pennsylvania's in-state tuition at public four-year universities runs 29% above the national average, at $17,909 a year. Staying close to home is not the discount people assume it is.
Education Data Initiative, 2025–26.
It's the first thing people ask. They come back with more than they left with.
And when they don't come back, and some won't, what they build still traces to here. We're not funding students to leave West Chester. We're funding them to go where the right education is.
Open the road, and see what comes back.
The Open Road Foundation exists to uplift Philadelphia Area students pursuing a college degree through financial support and mentorship, offering greater educational opportunities and a chance to explore their passions in the settings that will help them flourish.
One note on that, in plainer words: every award we make today goes to a West Chester Area School District student. "Philadelphia Area" is where we're going, not where we are.
Five people, named, with our roles. If something on this site is wrong, one of us answers for it, and you can write to any of us directly.
Joe Clark
President
West Chester East, then Alabama for math, finance, and economics. Now an associate at BCG.
Riley Boutin
Treasurer
Connecticut to West Chester to Auburn, for finance, picked because it was unfamiliar. Now in wealth management in Tampa.
Niko Levin
VP, Outreach
Miami by way of West Chester East. Now an analyst at Accenture in Philadelphia, the closest of the five to home.
Jackson Kulp
VP, Development
Abilene Christian after West Chester East. Now a doctorate in physical therapy at Pittsburgh.
Demetrius Smith Jr.
VP, Marketing
Ohio State, chosen to see somewhere he had never been. Now an analyst at Accenture in New York.
We're raising the first award now. It goes to one WCASD student by the end of the school year.
