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Wednesday, November 20, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
ASPIRE mentors help students navigate future
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
As students enter the final
year or so of high school they
are often peppered with the
same questions: <What are you
going to do after you gradu-
ate?= <Where are you going
to college?= <Do you plan to
apply for scholarships?=
Rick Kroytz works daily
at Sisters High School to
help make sure students
have answers to those ques-
tions. As the coordinator for
ASPIRE (Access to Student
Assistance Programs in Reach
of Everyone) he helps match
students to mentors, oversees
college counseling, and works
with the Sisters Graduate
Resource Organization (GRO)
to help students access local
scholarships.
Kroytz, in his fourth year
as ASPIRE coordinator, is in
the process of completing his
school counseling certifica-
tion and works full-time at
Sisters High School. He cur-
rently manages 28 ASPIRE
mentors with the goal that by
senior year, every student has
an adult working with them on
their personal and educational
post-high-school goals.
<We have 28 great mentors
right now, but I am currently
recruiting to add 10 or 12
more so we have closer to 40,=
he said. <The mentors are pre-
pared to touch base with stu-
dents throughout the year and
are of great help whether stu-
dents are considering college,
community college, appren-
ticeships, military, the work
force, or other vocational/tech-
nical training.=
Kroytz fully appreciates
the strong work done by the
ASPIRE mentors and enthusi-
astically invites others to join
the program.
<The role of our men-
tor is to work one on one
with students to develop and
encourage students to think
about their future. They are a
peer, guide, and cheerleader
depending on what is being
talked about or worked on,= he
said. <Mentors are the core of
the ASPIRE program and what
makes Sisters High School
college and career program so
amazing is the relationships
mentors form with students as
they help the students begin
to take charge of their own
futures.=
In addition to ASPIRE,
Sisters High School contracts
with a professional college
counselor, Theresa Wadden.
Students and their parents can
arrange for an appointment
with Wadden through Kroytz
or their ASPIRE mentor.
Anyone interested in learn-
ing more about ASPIRE can
contact Kroytz via e-mail
at rick.kroytz@ssd6.org or
at 541-549-3203. Kroytz
will arrange an interview to
those interested and provide
more information about how
to become a volunteer and
what the training program to
become a mentor entails.
Kroytz is also the <in-build-
ing= connection for the ever-
expanding Sisters GRO schol-
arship program that awarded
approximately $250,000 in
local scholarships last year.
<ASPIRE and GRO work
hand in hand to support stu-
dents in attaining their goals
for the future,= Kroytz said.
<We think the entire Sisters
community should know about
the wonderful work done by
GRO, but we especially want
current seniors and their fami-
lies to be aware that there are
scholarships available for just
about every student situation
you can think of,= he said. He
continued, <Sometimes kids
don9t think they are eligible
for any of the scholarships
for one reason or another and
usually that is not the case, so
one of our goals this year is to
increase the percentage of kids
who apply.=
According to Kroytz, every
single student who com-
pleted the application process
last year was granted at least
one scholarship. Scholarship
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Jennith Hoyt and Evan Martinez at an ASPIRE meeting.
amounts range from $500 to
over $10,000 and are all from
local citizens, companies, and
organizations.
Kroytz recently hosted
Financial Aid Night for par-
ents and students in order
to familiarize them with the
Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA), which
is required by most col-
leges and universities. The
ASPIRE office also orga-
nizes College Planning Night,
college visits, vocational
training information, and
Scholarship Application Pizza
Night, which is scheduled for
February 3, just after the GRO
scholarships become available
online on January 24.
Kroytz encourages fami-
lies to visit the GRO website
http://shs.ssd6.org/sisters-
gro to learn more about the
program, including how to
become a donor.
<GRO has high goals to
make it possible someday to
have a scholarship of one kind
or another for every single
graduate every year,= he said.
<The support from the local
community has already been
incredibly generous, but there
is still room to grow.=
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