MU Graduates Serve as College Advisers at Several St. Louis High Schools

By Lindsey Underwood, MU News Bureau, University of Missouri

February 1, 2010

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Less than a quarter of Missouri residents have attended college. Twenty percent of the people who attend college don’t graduate. The Missouri College Advising Corps (MCAC) has placed recent University of Missouri graduates as college guides in four St. Louis area schools to encourage low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students to attend college.

“The Missouri College Advising Corps was created because we recognized that we have so many young individuals in our state who historically have not accessed higher education,” said Beth Tankersley-Bankhead, the executive director of Missouri College Advising Corps. “Most of those students just need someone to say, ‘you can do this.’”

The Missouri College Advising Corps helps Missouri students realize that higher education is an attainable goal by providing information and mentoring students throughout the application process. The following individuals are college guides in the St. Louis area: Loren Moseley, Riverview Gardens High School Devin Cromwell, Jennings High School LaShawn Butler, Soldan International Studies High School Sarah Keith, St. Louis Community College- Florissant Valley.

“The positive impact MCAC leaves in the community does not end with the students we see today; a lasting impression has been embedded in the students we work with,” Keith said. “Not only are they more likely to obtain a college education, but their children are more likely to go to college.”

The college guides are trained to advise students on how to find the right school for them, inform students about financial aid options, and provide other support. Two-year “term limits” ensure that the MU college guides remain close in age to the students they are mentoring. Guides also are provided leadership and professional development opportunities during their service period, another benefit as they progress in their careers.

“Being a college adviser has been an invaluable experience for me,” Moseley said. “Helping student’s matriculate from high school to college, connecting with my community, and improving my leadership and communication skills has definitely made this a rewarding position.”

MU was one of the 10 founding institutions to be a part of the National College Advising Corps, which now includes 13 institutions. The Missouri College Advising Corps began in 2007 and has placed 13 college guides in 11 high schools and three community colleges in both rural and urban communities across the state of Missouri.