As part of its mission, St. Cloud Area School District prepares and empowers students to lead a successful life. That mission expands this year at Apollo High School with a new career and college pathways coordinator, Alisha Lacina. It’s her job to assist freshmen and sophomores to prepare for life after high school, and she’s excited to guide students along the way to their futures.
District 742 is the first school district outside of the Twin Cities metro area to have a pathways coordinator.* The position is federally funded from the GEAR UP Grant through the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. Get Ready/GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) is a college and career readiness program for students from low-income backgrounds, indigenous communities and communities of color.
“The pathways coordinator is an extension of the seven-year GEAR UP Grant,” explains Director of Career and College Pathways Leah Sams. “We’re in our third year. We’ve had the curriculum for this for seventh, eighth and now ninth grade students. It’s … a continuation of support so they are ready to explore [what’s available after high school].”
Lacina dove in to work with students on their future career paths.
“Using the Get Ready curriculum,” shares Lacina, “throughout this higher education, [I’ll be] focusing more on individual appointments, small group and large group personal guidance. [I want] To really get students in ninth grade to answer, ‘Who am I?’ ‘What do I want?’ and ‘How do I achieve what I want?’ We’re starting to get those wheels turning.”
Though Lacina’s focus is on ninth and tenth graders, she can assist upperclassmen who pop in her resource room. Yet, as her students age, the program will expand with them and she’ll continue to guide them.
The GEAR UP Grant gives students the chance to attend virtual job fairs, mock interviews, career speaker gatherings as well as opens employment opportunities.
Lacina feels strongly about students planning for their future and recognizes that not all high schools offer this type of planning for their students. Her own college experience helped shape her understanding of the importance of this skill.
Lacina graduated from St. Cloud State University with a degree in criminal justice. She wanted to be a police officer. While searching for an internship, she happened to find one with a transitions coordinator at the women’s prison in Shakopee. The experience she gained at the facility assisting inmates transition to a work-life upon release changed her career path. She no longer wanted to be a police officer, but instead follow her path in corrections.
“I was provided the opportunity to assist women who were getting close to being released on any barrier that you could think of – basic life skills, money management, transportation, housing, how to job search, mock job interviews. We prepared them. I would teach class every other week and do one-on-one appointments. I fell in love with it.”
In order to be in the transition program, Lacina had to become an officer first. She was a corrections officer for six years before she was promoted to a transitions program coordinator.
“I got to create curriculum and program manage,” says Lacina. “It was the most amazing job -working one-on-one with them and watching their lives transform. I held a few job titles over the years. In 2018, I [was] promoted to become manager over all … transition program coordinators. I managed 14 program coordinators the last two years.”
Lacina came to District 742 when the pathways coordinator position became available, a position that was similar to hers at the Department of Corrections. The difference, of course, was shaping students’ futures.
“I got to goal plan again and that is what I fell in love with – helping people,” says Lacina.
Education is not foreign to Lacina. She grew up in Little Falls where her father was the band director at a local school. Her sister and brother-in-law are both teachers at Madison Elementary School. For her, it was an easy step into the education field.
Lacina says that her next steps have her “really looking forward to working with students – to plant those seeds. Watching them grow from a ninth grader to a twelfth grader and seeing how those seeds grow – to go on to amazing things. The most important thing is just figuring out who you are. [For me] It’s a little like getting on the bike again, but I’m so excited. Just put me back on that bike. I may wobble, but I promise I’ll be doing laps soon.”
She hopes to see her students do the same thing. They may wobble a bit, but she’ll be the guide running alongside them as they learn to balance and find their way.
On a personal note: Lacina and her husband moved back to Little Falls to be closer to family. She loves time outdoors, cross-country skiing, baking and being at the family cabin. She really loves to host get-togethers. Though the last year has put a damper on social gatherings, she has cherished the time spent with her children at home.
*As an exciting update to this story, Steve Roenfeldt has now been hired as the pathways coordinator for Tech High School.
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