By Mary Owen
When Regis High School councilor Mike Bauer signed on with the Oregon Student Assistance Commission’s mentoring program three years ago, he had no inkling of its potential outreach.
In 2007, Regis was the 83rd Oregon high school – and the first faith-based – to sign up for ASPIRE (Access to Student Assistance Programs in Reach of Everyone) to help seniors with their career goals. Matching volunteer mentors with students, the program was so successful that Regis added a class each year and now offers the program to all students. Now St. Mary Catholic School’s seventh and eighth graders are getting a shot at participating, and interest in the program has spread to other parochial middle schools in the area, Bauer said.
“You wouldn’t expect it, but the younger students really show an interest in careers and the future,” he said, crediting St. Mary principal Rick Schindler for giving Regis the go-ahead to invite his middle school students to explore the ASPIRE career database on March 7-8.
St. Luke’s in Woodburn, St. Mary’s in Albany, and Sacred Heart in Gervais are also planning trips to the computer lab at Regis to participate, Bauer said.
“It’s exciting,” said Dave Schumacher, Regis ASPIRE volunteer coordinator who quickly embraced the program as a way to allow students to explore career options and the means to acquire those careers.
ASPIRE, a non-for-profit organization in partnership with state and federal agencies, provides training and resources to schools throughout Oregon. Students further enhance their career search by logging in to the school’s computer-based Career Information System, offered by the University of Oregon. These opportunities allow students to make decisions about their future careers, where to go for training and education, and how to get the finances to get there, Bauer said.
J.R. Beitel narrowed his choices to civil engineering after job-shadowing recently with Slayden Construction employees at a bridge-building site in Eugene.
“Building things always interested me,” said Beitel, who graduates from Regis this spring. On the job for a day, he said, “I actually learned what they did.”
Senior Tori Crocker plans to job shadow Dr. Tom Van Deen at Santiam Memorial Hospital in the next few weeks. She hopes the experience will cement her desire to become an anesthesiologist.
“What they do sometimes changes their attitudes about careers,” said Jula Galvin, who administers the CIS and new CIS Jr. program components.
Galvin said a first-hand look at a career may steer students in an entirely different direction.
Students use the CIS system to find career and scholarship information, keeping track of their searches and related work in an online portfolio.
ASPIRE mentors put legs to their research by assisting them with post-secondary education planning, career choice, financial aid and admissions and scholarship applications.
Currently, seniors meet with a trained ASPIRE mentor on a regular basis. Juniors meet three times.
Sophomores are given a mentor to help explore career choices and meet twice a year. Freshmen are involved with CIS and introduced to ASPIRE at freshman orientation and given a mentor in May. And middle school students are being introduced to the programs this spring.
Early exposure, Schumacher said, is key “for preparing for and making the best decisions.”
The ASPIRE program provides students with tools that help ensure their future success, he said.
ASPIRE began with just four pilot schools in 1998 and is now in 115 schools, with more than 1,000 volunteers and reaching some 11,000 students, according to information on the group’s Web site.
About 90 percent of Regis graduates go on to an institution of higher learning, and the remaining 10 percent embark on other career choices including the military. ASPIRE mentors are a part of their success, Bauer said.
“We have something really special here right now,” Bauer said. “Every student has a mentor. If we can plant seeds in our seventh and eight graders, by the time they get to their senior year, they’ll have a good idea what they want to do and how to do it.”
For information on ASPIRE, visit www.regishighschool.net.
