Lincoln Charter School Archives - North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools

Above and below left: LCS students in California for Dream Big’s 2024 college trip. Article photos courtesy of LCS.

A Lincoln County charter school is tapping the power of possibility through tours of elite college campuses. Each spring, administrators from Lincoln Charter School (LCS) travel to Ivy League or other highly selective colleges with a dozen or so high school sophomores. LCS plans the trip and funds all of students’ travel expenses.

Aptly named Dream Big, the program is a seedbed for student aspirations.

“Part of the origin story is just pushing our kids to think outside of what they have experienced regularly or what might be familiar,” said Jonathan Bryant, the chief administrator at LCS. “We have had a number of kids who just didn’t consider themselves Ivy League material.”

North Carolina has numerous top-tier colleges in-state, Bryant noted. Yet when he and other leaders analyzed college destinations for earlier LCS graduates, they realized some students still might benefit from considering a broader swath of schools.

That realization galvanized the creation of Dream Big, which launched in 2012 with a tour of Harvard and Lesley University. Since then, school leaders have organized 11 trips with 120 students. While the program paused during the pandemic, it resumed in 2024 with a visit to Stanford University and the University of California-Berkeley. In 2025, Dream Big students returned to Harvard, also touring Northeastern University.

On campus: ‘They see that possibility’

School leaders believe these college visits prompt a mindset shift. When LCS students arrive at highly selective schools and see other students, just like them, their thinking changes. What once seemed unattainable and elusive suddenly feels accessible.

“It can be pretty intimidating to roll onto an Ivy League campus. People talk about some of these schools in hushed tones,” said Bryant. With Dream Big, students “see normal kids doing college—and they are there, too. They see that possibility.”

Whenever possible, leaders also seek to connect Dream Big students with onsite LCS alumni. This spring, for instance, students met with LCS alumna and Harvard freshman Emily Fallas-Chacon, a first-generation college student. While Emily wasn’t able to go on a Dream Big trip herself, she said she was “overjoyed” to hear LCS students planned to tour Harvard through Dream Big. She met with them on the first day of the trip, answering questions about her academic journey at LCS, college transition, and life at Harvard. Fallas-Chacon also joined the campus tour the next day.

“It was a full circle moment to be able to talk to students about my time at Lincoln Charter School–a school that I cherished so much for its people and memories,” said Fallas-Chacon, now a sophomore.  “Yet [I] was able to do so at Harvard College, somewhere I never thought I would ever end up, but fortunately have.”

The experience also prompted an aspirational reminder for students from Fallas-Chacon:

At the end of the day, whether students plan on applying to Harvard or any Ivy, I’m thankful for the opportunity to show kids that they, of course, should Dream Big–because nothing is out of reach with hard work, determination, and importantly, kindness to those around them on their unique journeys.”

“That time with her was worth all of the effort—hearing directly from somebody who was living and breathing Harvard,” said Bryant. “It was just magical.”

LCS students on the 2025 Dream Big trip (directly above and above right).

Program details

LCS operates two campuses, in Denver and Lincolnton, and Dream Big is open to high school sophomores at both locations. Targeting the sophomore year was an evidence-based decision, Bryant said. That year represents a critical window in a student’s pre-college journey that is “not too early and not too late.”

Interested students complete an application for Dream Big and submit teacher recommendations. A committee of administrators reviews applications, along with service hours and extracurricular activities.

School leaders seek to structure an inclusive, but realistic, experience. “We’re trying to expose some of our students who have the ability, resume, and drive to really seriously consider these schools,” Bryant said.

Dream Big tours are typically one day—with an early start and late finish—unless distance makes that shorter timeframe prohibitive.

Dream Big impacts: ‘That could be me’

How does Dream Big impact students’ vision-casting and views of themselves?

“We see the trajectory of institutions that are being considered by those kids change for everyone,” Bryant said. In some cases, the visits help students exclude schools from consideration; in other cases, it may prod them to stretch and seek admission at a highly selective school.

Students are not the only beneficiaries of Dream Big. The trip is “really insightful” for staff members, Bryant said, as they hear from admissions officers, view student work, and experience college life.

Upon their return, Dream Big participants share their experiences with the LCS board. They also serve as conduits of information for their peers who do not participate, Bryant said.

In the end, the goal is not just to prompt students to consider Dream Big schools. More fundamentally, school leaders hope the trip builds confidence and broadens the aperture of ambition as students reevaluate their own potential.

As they see other students on these campuses, Bryant said, they just might experience this life-altering epiphany: “That could be me.”

Learn more about Lincoln Charter School or its college preparatory activities.

Lincoln Charter School is a Coalition member school, and Jonathan Bryant chairs the Coalition’s Board of Directors.