ASPIRE helps students plan for the future

Every one of the 134 students who graduated from Sisters High School last June left the school knowing what they were going to do this fall. The school's ASPIRE program (Access to Student Assistance Program in Reach of Everyone) was instrumental in helping students attain this goal.

Again this year, Sisters High School is offering the ASPIRE program to students to discuss and outline post-high school plans. Adult volunteers assist students to explore vocational, technical and career school opportunities, as well as community college, military, or four-year college or university options.

ASPIRE volunteers advise students about academic preparation, scholarship search and application, career exploration and college choice. The program also helps students who want to take a year off from their educational pursuits to plan a year as "explorers."

Laurie Adams emphasized that the program is inclusive.

"I said the only way that I would come in and do this program is if I got the whole senior class, the whole junior class and everyone covered," said Adams.

Each year Adams' goal is to bring more students into the program.

"My goal (this year) is to cover the sophomore class," said Adams, noting that to achieve this goal she will need about 50 volunteers.

Adams prefers to place new volunteers with the younger students; she relies on returning volunteers to work with seniors.

"That way they (the volunteers) stay with them for the two (or three) years and they kind of move along with them. In the junior class they are kind of looking at schools, what we want to do, where we want to go," she said.

According to Adams statistics show that the present generation of youth consider adults as people who want something from them.

"Their parents want their rooms clean, good grades, don't wreck the car. There's a list of things. Their coaches want them to make the field goal or to make the touchdown. Their teachers want them to get their assignments in. Most every adult in their lives wants something from them," she said.

In contrast, ASPIRE volunteers work on a different basis with these teens. They want nothing from them. All they want is to help these young people define how to attain their dreams.

Not only do ASPIRE volunteers help students explore educational alternatives to pursue their dreams, they also help the students develop a plan to pay for their education, whether it be by applying for scholarships, entering into work-study programs, seeking part-time jobs, effectively managing finances or the like.

Volunteers are required to commit about 10 hours to the program per month. They are asked to attend an informational meeting the first Wednesday of each month. Experts are brought in to discuss a broad range of topics that provide volunteers with a storehouse of information to utilize in advising students about post-graduation options.

"We bring in people from schools, ... (others) to talk about the gap year abroad, ... the armed services," said Adams, mentioning only a few of the topics that are covered at the monthly meetings.

Volunteers spend the remainder of their time meeting with their students on a one-on-one basis. Most volunteers work with about 10 students and meet with each for about one half hour per month.

ASPIRE is statewide program that was initiated in 1998 as a collaborative project between the Oregon Student Assistance Commission (OSAC), a state agency that assists Oregonians in attaining post secondary education, and the Oregon Community Foundation (OCF), a Portland-based, private, non-profit organization. ASPIRE is modeled after successful programs in North Bend and Eugene that use trained volunteers to mentor students in their post secondary pursuits. The program was launched at Sisters High School in 2005 by Adams.

For more information contact Adams at 549-4045, ext. 3203 or by e-mail at: ada[email protected]

General information is also available at the ASPIRE Web site: http://www.aspireoregon.org.