By Julia Pile
Special to NKyTribune
Shellie Baker, program manager for the Kentucky College Coaches program at Kentucky Campus Compact, based at Northern Kentucky University, Rotary Club of Florence spoke about the program.
Kentucky College Coaches is a statewide AmeriCorps program that places mentors in both secondary and post-secondary schools to support college access and student success.
These AmeriCorps service members are tasked with acting as coaches to selected students, helping them be successful in all aspects of their school career.
At the high school level, the student participants are encouraged to think about, apply for and achieve acceptance to college or some sort of post-secondary option. This involves doing whole-school activities as well as one-on-one mentoring with core students from each grade level (9th-12th grade).
At the college level, the near-peer mentors will help the students engage in the school environment, experience academic success, and graduate with their chosen post-secondary degree or certificate of completion. The mentees are typically students who
1. will likely get through high school, but who are unlikely to go to college;
2. who are from low-income families;
3. who would be first-generation college attendees.
Kentucky Campus Compact (KyCC) was created in 2005 by a task force of Kentucky college and university presidents and has been housed at Northern Kentucky University since January 2006. KyCC is part of a national Campus Compact network with an office in Boston and 35 state and regional offices.
Kentucky Campus Compact views colleges and universities as vital agents and architects of a diverse democracy, committed to educating students for responsible citizenship in ways that both deepen their education and improve the quality of community life. The group challenges all of higher education to make civic and community engagement an institutional priority.
Shellie Baker previously served as the KY Youth Apprenticeship Coordinator through NKCES and supported high school college and career counselors with resources and services to help them best serve their students. She served as the Director of Lincoln Grant Scholar House with the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission. She lead campus operations in conjunction with the academic pathway and goal plan for all applicants in pre-presidential and those in residential and post-residential services at Lincoln Grant Scholar House.