FAYETTEVILLE — Applications for a new career coaching program will be sent home Tuesday, Sept. 4, with students who attend Pea Ridge High School. Parental consent is required for students to participate in the program.
The program based at the University of Arkansas is modeled after Gov. Mike Beebe’s “Arkansas Works” program. Fifteen counselor education graduate students were hired to guide at-risk high school students in 17 northwest Arkansas high schools and their families in pursuing the students’ best opportunities after high school graduation. Kristin Higgins, assistant professor of counselor education, serves as principal investigator of the project.
The program was dubbed Razor C.O.A.C.H., which stands for “Creating Opportunities for Arkansans’ Career Hopes.”
Lauren Jones was assigned to work at Pea Ridge High School.
Jones, of Fayetteville, a master’s student in counseling with an emphasis in clinical mental health counseling, earned a Bachelor of Arts from Arkansas Tech University. She is a graduate of Clarksville High School.
“I’m very excited to join this wonderful program,” she said. “My previous experience working at Westside Public Schools in Johnson County sparked my interest in schoolbased mental health, and this program will help meobtain my educational and career goals. As a future counselor working in school-based mental health, this program has blessed me with the opportunity to gain experience working in a high school setting.”
The new program is organized and funded through a partnership between the Walton Family Foundation, the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions, the Northwest Arkansas Council’s Educational Excellence Work Group and the Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative. A threeyear, $1.5 million grant from the Walton Family Foundation will support the Northwest Arkansas program. The governor’s Arkansas Works program, which operates in 21 Arkansas counties, is not currently serving school districts in Benton orWashington counties.
The new program’s career coaches, who have the skills, knowledge and abilities to facilitate career development, will help students explore posthigh school education options and assist in preparing for and enrolling to take the ACT college entrance exam. The coaches will stress family involvement in the entire process as they help students go over college scholarship and financial aid opportunities, college selection and technical training possibilities.
Co-principal investigators are Gary Ritter, holder of the Twenty-First Century Chair in Education Policy; Dan Kissinger, associate professor of counselor education, and Arie Greenleaf, assistant professor of counselor education. Josh Raney directs the day-to-day operations of the program.
Sports, Pages 8 on 08/29/2012