Five people who grew up in West Chester. What this place gave us, and what we are giving back.
The five of us grew up here. We went to different places for school, studied different things and ended up in different cities, but the same thing happened to each of us: the education we got changed what we thought was possible for ourselves.
That is what we want to hand to somebody else.
None of it started with us. It started here, with the teachers, the coaches, the families and the neighbors who made it normal to aim at something. Some of us came back to Chester County and some of us did not. All five of us know where it came from.
There are students here right now who want that same education and cannot have it, for one reason: money. That is the only thing standing between them and it. So we are removing it.
What matters is that they get to go. If West Chester is the kind of place that sends its students after what they want, that is worth something to West Chester, wherever they end up.
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.
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 are going, not where we are.
Five people, named, with our roles. You can write to any of us directly.
Joe Clark
President
West Chester East, then the University of Alabama for math, finance, and economics. Now an associate at BCG.
Riley Boutin
Treasurer
Connecticut to West Chester to Auburn University, for finance, picked because it was unfamiliar. Now in wealth management in Tampa.
Niko Levin
VP, Outreach
The University of 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 University after West Chester East. Now a doctorate in physical therapy at the University of Pittsburgh.
Demetrius Smith Jr.
VP, Marketing
The Ohio State University, 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.
