U-CAN Expands to Ashland County; SPARC & U-CAN Provide Interest & College Readiness Assessments

U-CAN, the University and College Access Network, is expanding its college access program into Ashland County this fall. Starting in September, U-CAN college access advisors will begin to assist students at Ashland High School, Mapleton High School, Ashland-West Holmes Career Center and Loudonville-Perrysville Middle School. Funding for this expansion is being provided by an Invest in Success grant that U-CAN received from the Ohio College Access Network, and by funds provided by SPARC (Succeed & Prosper through education Ashland, Richland and Crawford Counties) and the four school districts being served. The funding will support the first two years of the program. Two U-CAN advisors will share their time between these schools. Long time high school teacher Paul Kauffman, who is retired from Hillsdale Schools, will work two days a week with students at Ashland High School and one day a week with students at Mapleton High School. Retired Mansfield elementary school principal Skip Malaska will work one day a week with students at Ashland-West Holmes. Malaska will also work on a periodic basis with students at Loudonville-Perrysville Middle School. Continuing to expand its work with middle school students has been a key U-CAN goal and this provides the first opportunity for a U-CAN advisor to work with middle school students on a more regular basis.

As part of their joint efforts to help area students better prepare for higher education at an earlier age, SPARC and U-CAN are once again this year enabling eighth and tenth grade students in Richland, Crawford and Ashland counties to take the ACT EXPLORE and PLAN assessments and receive counseling on their results. U-CAN and SPARC first provided this opportunity last school year. Both entities have worked together to secure funding for the assessments and counseling. SPARC director Mark Stock is coordinating the effort. The EXPLORE helps junior high students evaluate their educational progress and begin to explore potential career areas that interest them. Based on what they learn, students better understand the educational requirements that are needed to succeed in the career fields that interest them and can better plan their high school curriculum to prepare for higher education in those fields. The ACT PLAN is similar to the Pre-SAT and helps students become better prepared for taking the ACT.