Choosing transformation

On a summer afternoon, a group of high school students congregates in the lobby of a nonprofit with journals and workbooks in their arms, happily chatting with one another, eagerly awaiting the start of their SAT prep camp.

Like the dozens of students who have entered the doors of Foundation for C.H.O.I.C.E before them, they are here to receive college and career guidance from volunteer mentors. The 27-week program relies entirely on volunteers, most of which are provided by VOLY.org.®

“Our volunteers are everything,” Foundation for C.H.O.I.C.E CEO Jessica Bartnick said. “We could not run our organization without our volunteers. Our mentors create amazing relationships with the students, and these relationships are going to last forever.”

Foundation for C.H.O.I.C.E was founded three years ago with one goal: to give at-risk students college and career access through their one-on-one mentor program, inspiring them to make positive choices for their future.

“One of the biggest problems at-risk students face is that 90 percent drop out of college,” Bartnick said. “The ultimate goal is to give students the access they need to be successful. All of the high schools we partner with have an 85 percent or higher poverty rate.”

VOLY.org has supplied Foundation for C.H.O.I.C.E with a diverse group of volunteers over the past three years, Bartnick said. They range from recent college graduates to retired senior citizens, and ensure that students are applying for colleges and researching scholarships.

“When the volunteer mentors come in and work with the students, it is something so strong and powerful that these kids are impacted for the rest of their lives,” Bartnick said. “In the absence of Foundation for C.H.O.I.C.E and our volunteer mentors, they might never go to college.”

Foundation for C.H.O.I.C.E also partners with local businesses found through VOLY.org. Students are given the opportunity to shadow a business partner that matches what they plan to study in college.

“They get to go to an office and see what a corporate environment is really like and what their college degree can actually provide them,” Bartnick said.  

Thanks to these volunteer mentors and business partners, supplied by VOLY.org, the 100 students who have worked with Foundation for C.H.O.I.C.E have gathered more than $600,000 in college funds, and 100 percent of their seniors have been accepted to a four-year university.

“We give our students that extra support that they are not receiving and tell them that they can have hope, and that they can believe, and that their mentors believe in them,” Bartnick said. “We will absolutely continue using VOLY.org. We get so many of our volunteer resources from there that it would be silly not to continue.”