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• :11~ ~,~ '~r~ - December 17, 2008
By Scan C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Volunteers are needed to
mentor high school juniors and
help prepare them for life after high
school.
Because the Sweet Home
School District 55 recently was
awarded a grant to operate a Gear
Up program, the Oregon Student
Assistance Commission approached
the district and asked if it wanted to
also add the ASPIRE program.
ASPIRE is the "the state's
largest mentoring program for
post-secondary education," said
Kristin Adams, the district's Gear
Up-ASPIRE coordinator. "It's a
volunteer-based program, and it
matches students to mentors to
extend and enhance the reach of
high school counselors.
It cost the district $8,000 to
add the ASPIRE program, which
will assist juniors this year and
eventually expand to every high
school grade.
"What I'm looking for is
community members that can help
with one-on-one mentoring of
students to help think about their
futures after high school."
College is just one option,
Adams said, rather than focusing
entirely on college. Options can
include the military, vocational
school and apprenticeships, so
mentors will work with students
instead on career objectives and
how to attain those.
Two hours of training will be
provided by OSAC on Jan. 14.
Following that, Adams will provide
training, Initially, students and
mentors will spend time getting to
know each other.
A manual provides step-by-
step instructions about working
with students. It also provides
college visitation dates, information
on SATs and help for preparing for
SATs.
"The other big piece is the
scholarships," Adams said, "A lot of
kids don't understand you need to
fill out an application accurately."
Mentors will help organize
college and scholarship applica-
tions, and the local program is
planning four college visits, she
said, one of which she hopes will
be a sporting event, to help give
students a taste of campus life.
"Volunteers just need to have a
desire to work with teenage students
and be sensitive to the challenges
facing our community's particular
teenagers," Adams said. Students
throughout the district face financial
challenges, and increasingly local
families are below the poverty line.
"So our students are watching
their parents just put food on the
table," Adams said. They sometimes
can't think of anything but getting
a job to help out. College is not an
option.
In 2004, 36 percent of
graduating seniors had taken the
SAT, Adams said, but unlike the
number of families living in poverty,
that number is decreasing. In 2007,
only about 17 percent of graduating
seniors had taken that test.
It's not a complete picture of
what graduates are doing, she said.
For example, that number doesn't
represent the number of students
who go through community college
and into the university system.
Those students don't necessarily
have to take SATs.
That's where Gear Up and
ASPIRE can help. Gear Up, which
is operating at the junior high level
this year will work with students
through graduation and provide a
scholarship to students who want to
go on to college.
In the meantime, ASPIRE will
help high school students do that or
follow some other career option.
"Our overall goal is to change
the culture," Adams said. "It's
going to be a slow process. So
many of our students think college
is beyond their reach."
These programs help show
students there really is something
beyond high school, she said.
When she graduated from
Sweet Home High School
in the 1980s,Sweet Home's
socioeconomicstatuswas
completely different. Many
students didn't go on to college
because they went to work in
logging.
Now, Sweet Home has some
multi-generati0nal poverty with the
changes in the timber industry.
The interest in changing is out
there, she said. They want to change
their situation and Adams wants to
show students that it is achievable.
It isn't just students who want
this, she said. She has had students
tell her how their mothers want to
go back to school.
The volunteer work also
requires a background check,
paperwork and fingerprinting,
she said, For information, contact
her at 367-7177, at Sweet Home
High School or by email at kristin.
adams@ sweethome.kl 2.or.us.
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From page I
he said, and "if they can get a
viable business running,that
generates its own money."
And the board is heading in
the right direction, Keene said.
"For the most part, the stewardship
of our district has been very good
compared to the rest of the state."
The district has had to make
cuts, but they haven't been as deep
as other districts, he said. The
district has already implemented
some cuts.
If more cuts are required, his
goal, as Board Member Diane
Gerson suggested last week, is to
"try to keep (cuts) away from the
classroom as much as possible.
We don't want to cut classes.
That's why we're here - for the
kids to learn."
Efforts to reinstate PE and
music programs at the elementary
level should continue, Keene said,
and he would like to keep them
protected should more cuts be
necessary.
"We had PE every day when
I was in grade school," he said.
"If it does get cut again, it's going
to be much tougher to get going
again."
The economy and finances are
probably the biggest challenges
facing the district right now, he
said. "We've got a fairly close-
knit community."
And that means opportunities,
he said. That, combined with using
resources in different ways, is key
to keeping the district humming
along.
District officials will have
to think outside the box, he said.
"'I try to, but I'm just as guilty as
everybody. We're going to have to
think outside the box to get over
the hump."
Keene was born in Lebanon
and raised in Sweet Home. He
attended school in Sweet Home
and graduated in 1987. He played
sports in high school, was amember
of the National Honor Society
and Key Club and participated in
drama and leadership.
He attended Oregon State
University for three years. He
studied electrical engineering
and then switched his major to
physical therapy with a minor in
psychology, he said. "And then
life happened."
He worked for Hewlett-
Packard in injection molding
and then from there to another
Corvallis company.
He later worked at Advanced
West Resources making golden
firewood pellets. He has worked
in retail and currently works in
receiving at Target Distribution
Center in Tangent.
He is married to Michel[e
Keene, who is the librarian and
media person at Crawfordsville
Elementary School. They have
one son, David Skeen, who is
attending the eighth grade at
Sweet Home Junior High.
He attends Highway 20
Church of Christ and is unit
commissioner, overseeing four
Sweet Home units, with the Boy
Scouts Calapooia District. He and
his wife are district trainers. He
volunteers during Day Camp in
the summer.
He enjoys.fishing and hunting
when he gets the time. He said
he also enjoys on-line computer
gaming.
