OCTOBER 21, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
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McNary opens college and career center
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
With bright green walls,
stone countertops, large televi-
sion screens and black couches,
McNary’s new college and ca-
reer center doesn’t look like
any other room in the high
school.
And that’s exactly what
Principal Erik Jespersen want-
ed.
“I think it’s amazing,” Jes-
persen said at an open house
on Thursday, Oct. 13. “What
we were shooting for when
we started this project is we
wanted to create a space that
didn’t look like a classroom,
that didn’t look like any other
part of the school because we
want people to come in with a
totally different mindset.”
The college and career cen-
ter, which was rebuilt with
$20,000 from the NIKE In-
novation Fund, has 12 Google
Chromebooks as well as other
technology that is so new that
MHS Assistant Principal Su-
sanne Stefani said the school’s
top tech guy is not able to fi nd
solutions on a few bugs that
have been spotted.
“The whole district is
watching how we handle the
technology and how we deal
with it,” Stefani said.
Jespersen noted the center
will help McNary in its goal
of becoming an AVID demon-
stration school by 2020.
“AVID is about taking a
group of kids and providing
some pathways for them to get
to college but we didn’t really
have the space to support that,”
Jespersen said.
“So we wanted an interac-
tive space for people to come
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A group of McNary High School students work in the new college and career center, which opened Monday, Oct. 17.
into and really have the rubber
meet the road, which is what’s
going to happen in here.”
On Monday, Oct. 17, stu-
dents began using the center to
get help with college and job
applications as well as resumes.
Every Tuesday, beginning in
November, there will be AVID
tutorials.
“Our school district’s mis-
sion is to prepare all kids to be
college and career ready,” Jes-
persen said.
“We want to be really ag-
gressive in that pursuit. I think
this is a good fi rst step.”
Rochelle Farris, a former fi -
nancial aid counselor at West-
ern Oregon University, has
been hired as a college and ca-
reer center assistant, which is a
new position at McNary.
“She is going to be the
smiling face and organizer
that makes this space work
and that’s something that we
haven’t had, a dedicated posi-
tion exclusively for this,” Jes-
persen said.
As a student at Western Or-
egon, Farris changed her major
fi ve times so she knows fi rst-
hand how diffi cult it can be to
get on the right career path.
“This is what I’m passionate
about, to start working with
kids,” Farris said. “Every stu-
dent here has a path and they
might not know what that
path is. They don’t know what
it’s going to be like when they
walk out the doors and I think
it’s really important to give
kids a plan and to help them
with that plan so they know
what’s going to happen after
high school.”
McNary is bringing in col-
leges, trade schools, different
branches of the military and
local businesses to give presen-
tations.
“By working with students
on college applications, de-
termining what colleges they
want to go to, giving them the
opportunity to explore differ-
ent careers, giving them volun-
teer opportunities so they can
dabble in and experience what
it’s like in certain areas, then
they fi gure out that passion,”
Farris said.
“Doing things like that, they
are going to have a clearer pic-
ture of what their future is go-
ing to look like and that’s what
I’m really excited to help them
on their journey and help
guide them in that direction.
We need to support both types
of kids (college and career)
and give them experiences to
make sure that they have a plan
when they walk out the doors
of McNary High School.”
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Rochelle Farris is the new college and career center assistant at
McNary High School.
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