Three University of Arkansas graduate students presented information about the Razor C.O.A.C.H. program to a national conference in Los Angeles on April 10.

Jena Anderson, Kiersten Prochnow and Heather Spickard are graduate students in the counselor education program who work as career coaches at Northwest Arkansas high schools. They attended CollegeBoard’s Destination Equity: Charting Bright Futures for All Students, a conference focused on counseling practices and programs that encourage access and success for students as they prepare for college and careers.

The students were joined in the presentation of “Razor C.O.A.C.H.: A University and High School Partnership Focused on College and Career Readiness” by Josh Raney, the director of the program funded by the Walton Family Foundation and based in the College of Education and Health Professions.

From Left: Heather Spickard, Jena Anderson, Kiersten Prochnow and Josh Raney.

The presentation at the Los Angeles conference provided an overview of the program, information about how it was implemented in area high schools and preliminary results of first-year outcome data. Attendees to the presentation included representatives from a number of institutions across the nation who wanted to gain insight on creating similar programs in their schools and communities. The attendees had an opportunity to hear directly from the career coaches about their experiences and were able to ask detailed questions to help them in implementing and developing programs of their own.

In addition to presenting, the coaches had an opportunity to participate in a number of workshops and sessions focused on equity, leadership and transformation to promote college and career readiness.

“The conference was a great opportunity for us to share our experiences in implementing a college and career planning partnership as well as gain insight into what other programs and institutions are doing in their community,” Raney said. 

The Razor C.O.A.C.H. program partners with 15 high schools in Northwest Arkansas with the aim of Creating Opportunities for Arkansans’ Career Hopes, which is the acronym in the program’s name.  

Fifteen counselor education graduate students work 20 hours per week as career coaches providing college and career planning services to students in grades 10-12. The coaches motivate and support students to increase their knowledge of and access to career and educational opportunities beyond high school.

Razor C.O.A.C.H. interventions focus on facilitating development of pro-academic behaviors, increasing self-awareness, exploring career and college options, and establishing future goals. From this work, the program hopes to increase graduation rates, increase post-secondary enrollment, and improve the quality of the Northwest Arkansas workforce.

It has been a busy spring for Razor C.O.A.C.H. as the program has held a number of events including a “College Experience Day” near the end of March. The event brought close to 150 high school students to the U of A campus to learn about campus life, the admissions process and what college can offer them.

Bentonville high school students outside of Old Main

Rogers high school students enjoying tours of residence halls.

Students from 10 schools in Washington and Benton counties got a first-hand look at college life from current college students as they toured campus facilities and had lunch in one of the residence halls. For many students, this was the first opportunity to be on a college campus.

Edwin Hernandez, a junior at Rogers High School, said, “It was a great way to learn about the opportunities that college holds.”

Cherine Namwe, another student at Rogers High School, said she not only got “information about the University of Arkansas and all it has to offer” but that she “was able to get her my questions answered and had a lot of fun!!!”

The program, which is funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Walton Family Foundation, is currently serving 520 students in NWA.