Vanessa Young ’78 retires after 35 years mentoring Binghamton EOP students

From a young age, Vanessa Young ’78 knew that going to college was a requirement. How it would happen, she wasn’t sure, but Young explained that her mother is a person who says things and then they happen. When she told Young and her five siblings that they would attend college, it was as good as a done deal.

“You’re going to college whether you want to or not,” Young remembered her mother telling her and her siblings. “You’re going to college because I didn’t have the opportunity to go to college.”

As a young Black woman graduating from high school in 1944, college was cost-prohibitive for Young’s mother. Young’s grandparents, who grew up in Jim Crow-era Virginia, were also stonewalled from higher education. Her great-great grandmother was enslaved. So Young’s mother and grandparents taught her the importance of an education from an early age. The Young children knew they had an obligation to seize any opportunity that arose.

“If you get an education, no one can ever take it away from you,” Young’s mother told her. “You can always work and get a job and make a living.”

Young first heard about Binghamton University from a friend in high school. She was committed to attending a four-year school with a strong educational reputation, and Binghamton checked both of those boxes. She talked to her guidance counselor, who gave her a booklet about the SUNY system.

While reading through it, she saw the letters “EOP” on one corner. When she looked into what that meant, she saw that the Educational Opportunity Program was for historically disadvantaged students like her.

“I said, ‘That’s it. That’s how I’m going to go to college.’”

EOP provided Young and her peers with immense support — financially, personally and academically. The mentorship she received from her EOP counselor, Wesley VanDunk, ultimately played a big role in landing her in the career that she has dedicated her life to.

Young came to Binghamton University with a good idea of what she wanted to do.

“My goal was to get to a profession to help others,” she said. “The thought of helping others was just really good.”

At first, nursing seemed like the perfect fit. But as she progressed through her major, Young most enjoyed a particular class that taught counseling techniques and learned there were parts of nursing she didn’t like. By the time her professors announced that they would start practicing with needles, Young had made up her mind to jump ship.

“Something hit me, and I was like, ‘Oh, no. No, no, no. This is not going to work,’” she laughed. “I started thinking about it and I said, ‘I want to do counseling. I want to help people in that area.” Eventually she narrowed it down to wanting to work with college students.

Actually changing her major was nerve-wracking. Her family and friends tried to convince her to tough it out, and she grappled with all of the opinions. But Young knew that nursing wasn’t meant to be, and VanDunk was the first person who didn’t try to persuade her to remain in nursing. It was his support that led Young to finally make the switch from nursing to sociology.

“He said, ‘No, if you feel you want to do something else that’s better for you, then go for it,’” Young said, “A flood of relief came over me.”

Due in part to EOP and VanDunk, Young’s life changed completely in her time as an undergraduate at the University. Most of her college experience was fun — she fondly remembers a large fountain in front of the library tower as a place where students always gathered. She remembers protests and club meetings, warm days and cramming for finals. But she also remembers tragedy — tragedy that spurred her to act.

As an undergraduate, Young’s friend and fellow EOP student Albert Tillman — for whom Tillman Lobby in The Union is named — was tragically killed in a random act of violence on campus. After his death, Young’s mother begged her to come home, but she refused. She wanted to finish college for herself, but also for her mother, grandparents and Tillman, who never got the chance.

“It was one of those pointed moments in your life when you have to make a decision,” Young said. “Here was someone who wanted to finish college so badly and didn’t get the opportunity. I was given the opportunity, and I didn’t want to waste it.”

In 1978, Young graduated with a degree in sociology and African-American studies with a specialization in theater. By then, she had decided on her career goal: working in student affairs, the administrative arm of higher education that typically runs programs like EOP.

The care that EOP vested in her was not lost, and she wanted to pay the support forward. After graduate school at Indiana University in Bloomington, Young went on to work as an EOP counselor at SUNY New Paltz.

“I wanted to give to other EOP students what I had received because I know that if it wasn’t for EOP, I wouldn’t have had the opportunities that I’ve had,” Young said. “I know that. I consider myself fortunate and very blessed for the journey I’ve been given.”

In the end, Young found that all roads led back to Binghamton.

“When I was a junior and made the decision to change my major, I said right away I wanted to come back to Binghamton,” she said. “There was just a strong feeling of wanting to give back due to all of the support I had been given.”

Young returned to Binghamton University as an academic counselor for EOP and has worked with generations of students since then.

“Binghamton is a good place,” Young said. “If it were not, I wouldn’t have come back here. I wouldn’t be here.”

Young looks back on her own collegiate experience and tries to guide students toward the mentality that led her to success — the mentality that her grandparents and mother instilled in her, and that she doubled down on after Tillman’s tragic death: never give up on an opportunity.

“Try your hardest and be successful,” Young advises students today. “Don’t give up when it comes to college. Bottom line: go for the degree.”

Her students take her advice to heart. Among them, one has written a book and traveled to the White House, teaching students how to achieve collegiate success; another has achieved great success as an attorney; yet another founded a company focused on eliminating drone threats.

“I’m just one counselor here,” she said. “All of us have good stories. My students leave an impact on my life.”

Young received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service in 2017. The award was a great honor, but there are other things she is most proud of. She has guided a lineage of alumni that she still keeps in contact with. She fulfilled her mother’s wishes and got an education. And, above all, she’s doing the thing she’s always dreamed of: helping people, leaving a lasting impact on their lives and making sure they snatch up their own opportunities and hold tight.

After 35 years with EOP, Young will retire Dec. 21, 2022. She’ll always be grateful for everything EOP did for her, and the difference she made for her students.

“EOP … you can’t put it in a box,” Young said. “It transformed my life.”