A Monmouth University and Jackson School District Partnership
Jackson Township school district received the extremely competitive State of New Jersey School Based Mental Health (SBMH) Grant, which names Monmouth University’s Educational Counseling Program, within the School of Education, as their Institution of Higher Education selected partner. Educational Counseling Associate Professor and Program Director Alyson Pompeo-Fargnoli is the Monmouth University Coordinator of this partnership/program. Joe Palumbo, the director of School Counseling, coordinates the partnership on the Jackson School District side.
The support of Provost Rich Veit, Interim School of Education Dean Wendy Harriott, and EDC Chair Vernon Smith, Ph.D., has also been integral to this valuable program.
“The experience was very beneficial for me and my future career, not to mention the benefit to the students at Jackson! I want to give thanks to Professor Pompeo-Fargnoli for choosing me to participate in this program. It means so much for my personal and professional growth and I am so thankful to Monmouth for giving me such an opportunity!”
Educational Counseling graduate intern Tetiana Drag, who completed her internship through the Jackson partnership
A Unique Opportunity for the University’s Educational Counseling Graduate Students
During the life of this five-year grant, Jackson will coordinate specifically with Monmouth University’s Educational Counseling program, to provide a paid internship experience for up to 12 school counseling interns. In addition to this paid internship opportunity, the Educational Counseling program’s graduate student interns will also receive additional professional development trainings and experiences to better prepare them as future school counselors.
As a part of these additional trainings and experiences for our Monmouth graduate students, there existed an opportunity to develop a further and additional partnership between Monmouth University and Jackson School District.
Supplemental College and Career Readiness Program (SCCRP)
The SCCRP supports the Jackson district counselors, counselor interns, and students, through an academic mentoring program with the goal of increasing the numbers of low-income, first generation students graduating from high school. It serves as a pre-college bridge program that would ultimately plan to target the 6th through 12th grade population of students in Jackson Public School District. The program provides participants with valuable experiences that will hopefully lead to acceptance at institutions of higher education, including at Monmouth University. One of the goals is to increase access to higher education, including by entering a career in the field of education or human services to become agents of social change.
Additional aspects of the SCCRP include training counseling interns to facilitate college and career readiness counseling/support groups for the Jackson students. These groups focus on first-generation college-bound students at Jackson, by supporting them and providing them with resources to consider and apply to college. The Monmouth University graduate counselor interns assist in facilitating the SCCRP counseling groups. Through this, they acquire important skills which make them better prepared as future school counselors.
SCCRP First-Generation Student Summit
The SCCRP partnership’s First-Generation Student Summit is also a special aspect of the program. In addition to the SCCRP students and staff, various other Jackson students and staff attend, along with invitations to other Monmouth and Ocean County schools. This exciting event has included various Monmouth University faculty, staff, and student speakers, as they inspired the first-generation students at Jackson. The day includes great tips about moving onto higher education, the ways in which the University supports its first-generation students, and first-generation success stories from University faculty and current students.