TyTeeona Howard ’21 receives 4 Under 40 Alumni Achievement Award

TyTeeona Howard ’21 remembers when she was 17 years old, sitting alongside her mentor, Emily, completing her Bethel application. Howard—a soon-to-be high school graduate—would be the first in her family to attend college. She was still getting familiar with the college application process and knew her mentor’s support would be pivotal. What she didn’t know was that seven years later, she’d be supporting the next generation of students as an employee at Bolder Options—the same program that connected her with her mentor. 

Bolder Options is a youth mentoring organization that supports students in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Rochester by providing them with a mentor to journey with them and support their personal development. The formal mentorship program lasts a year, consisting of weekly meetings and events, but some relationships, like Howard’s relationship with her mentor which started when she was 12 years old, continue beyond the program.

During Howard’s senior year of high school, she applied and was accepted to many colleges, but her final decision came down to Bethel or an out-of-state school. In the end, she chose Bethel because she knew it was somewhere she could grow in her faith. “I was thinking beyond college—thinking about the kind of person I wanted to be leaving school,” Howard says of her high school self. “I really wanted my faith to be centered in my life, and I wanted to be challenged in a way that would make me grow.” 

Howard found that type of Christ-centered community at Bethel, along with the support systems she needed to take her faith from “infancy to fully-grown adulthood,” she says. “Faith still plays a significant role in my life, and people see it, especially in my optimism and my patience with young people.”  

At Bethel, Howard also found a place where she could explore her broad academic interests. She triple-majored in political science, international relations, and history—all programs that Howard says provided her with professors who left an impact on her life. “I had great professors who were really open to hearing me, supporting me, and taking the time to explain things I didn’t understand,” Howard says. “That actually plays a big role in how patient and supportive I am in my current job—with both my coworkers and the young people I serve. I know Bethel hired some really good people in those departments to make that happen.”

During the summers in between her years at Bethel, Howard stayed involved with Bolder Options as an intern, and after graduation in 2021, she was hired full time. In her current role as a data and evaluation specialist, she oversees elements related to the organization’s finances and works to evaluate and improve the experiences of those who participate in the program. 

One of the themes that Howard observed throughout her evaluation work was that mentees were increasingly requesting mentors whose life experiences reflected their own. “We noticed that our current mentors at the time were not a reflection of the people that we served, and so we created a plan to help us enter new spaces respectfully and recruit mentors from communities that reflected the people they serve,” Howard says. “We discovered that what brings non-white people into mentor roles is when the organization that they’re working with creates a sense of community.” They made a shift in their marketing strategy, focusing on inviting future mentors into the community they were building. The results were evident only a year later, when the diversity of their mentors had grown to reflect the diversity of the Minnesota Twin Cities.

The goal of Bolder Options is to help young people build confidence, develop resilience, and achieve their full potential. Howard says that providing a mentor to young people is essential to supporting their growth. ”As a young person, in order to propel yourself into a life that you want, you have to be able to see that,” she says. “Having mentors in your life is vital. You need to be able to see the life that you want to create for yourself.” 

While she’s not a formal mentor through Bolder Options, Howard has seen her own story resonate with the youth the program serves. “I’m from the same communities that they come from. Most of the young people are going to be first generation college students like me,” Howard says. “I can see myself in them. By no means do I think, ‘Oh, I’m saving them.’ That’s not what this is—but I understand I’m a by-product of what it looks like to invest in a youth. I believe everyone, especially youth deserve to be poured into until they believe it themselves.”  

In addition to her work with Bolder Options, Howard also recently helped pilot a grant program through Social Venture Partnerships called Youth Sparks. The program, which launched in 2023, provided Minnesota youth with the opportunity to apply for a $1,000 grant that they could use to fund a project that would impact their community. Five youth were awarded grants that first year, and Howard is still impressed with the innovation the many applicants demonstrated. “One young lady created an app that you could use to scan your eyes to see if you’re on the path to early blindness, glaucoma, or other issues,” she says. “It was really crazy, and she had most of it done. She just needed the support.” Howard volunteering for the role with Youth Sparks led to her joining Social Venture Partners Minnesota as one of the youngest board members in the organization’s history. 

Outside of her professional work, Howard says you can likely find her on the water, near a basketball court, or trying some new food. Whatever she’s doing, though, it’s with people she cares about. She’s a first-time aunt, a sister, a daughter, and a friend to many.“I’m always seeking to build community. I understand power in numbers, but I believe more in the power of presence. To show up for one another and genuinely want to support and see them win. Everytime I think of community, I always think of shalom,” she says. Shalom is a Hebrew word appearing in the New Testament that is often translated as “peace,” and it’s been used to name a type of community that supports harmony and wellbeing for all people under God. “That’s the type of community I want to focus on building and sustaining. I know it can’t be perfect, because we’re on earth—but that’s the kind of community that I want to work toward here, until I get a better one after this life.” 

Nominate the next 4 Under 40 recipients!

Bethel University’s National Alumni Board annually seeks and accepts nominations for the 4 Under 40 Alumni Achievement Award. The selection is made from Bethel University graduates 40 years of age or younger who have had outstanding achievements in their career, public service, or volunteer activities.

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