KAMLOOPS-In today’s cash-strapped schools, it’s a grant that will go along way toward helping students.

The first-ever High School Head Start Program cash award, presented in September to Johnston Heights Secondary School in Surrey, will help students get better prepared for life after high school.

“This is so generous,” said Johnston Heights career facilitator Beverley Ramsay, who will use the $240 award for a variety of small purchases that will directly benefit students, stretching the gift by using the funding for students who just need a small but crucial helping hand at the right time.

“Our school is an inner-city school and we have some students in need. We discovered this fact when we sent our students to their job and work experience interviews. When reviewing proper dress we found that some of our students did not have dress shirts, jackets, ties or even acceptable office wear. This grant will help their teacher provide the necessary attire. We also are going to purchase steel-toed boots and required safety gear for students who are doing trade placements,” she said.

“We at JH would like to take this opportunity to thank the High School Head Start program and especially Angela Ferguson who believes in giving back to our schools. We’re going to call it the ‘Angela Fund. BRAVO!!!”

And the cash gifts will grow with time, promised High School Head Start Program founder Angela Ferguson, who conceived of the idea while building her post-secondary search tool, YouKnowVersity.com, which launched June 1st this year.

“I wanted a way to give back to the students using the site, so I have pledged 10% of YKV revenues to the funding program,” explained the young entrepreneur who, at 29, is not much older than the students her site serves. “As more public and private post-secondary schools sign up, the high school gifts will increase.”

Since YKV’s launch, Ferguson has forged a working partnership with BC’s Career Education Society and also received permission for HSHSP school sign-up from ministries of education in BC, the prairie provinces, and Ontario. So far, 117 high schools representing 62,311 students from seven provinces across Canada have signed onto the site, up 120% since the beginning of September. BC leads the pack with 86 schools registered, but Manitoba, with 19 signed up since early September, is fast closing the gap.

The funding program, open to high schools across Canada, is simple: Every quarter, the high school with the most nominations by users of the YKV site will receive the accumulated funds.

Since June, Ferguson has received letters from the ministries of education in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, allowing their provinces’ high schools to sign up for High School Head Start.

In addition to the funding program, YKV helps Beverley and her colleagues with career planning activities.

“After reviewing the YKV site we soon discovered that it is a program that provides a niche that was not being served to a select group of our students, students not planning to attend a public post-secondary in British Columbia,” she explained. “We were so excited to learn that YKV could provide private post-secondary information to our students as well as about other post-secondary options available outside of British Columbia. In fact, we have included the YKV option in our Graduation Transitions Packages that are given to all of our Grade10 students in their Planning10 class. A lot of students go that route, more than you would think, so it’s very useful to have YKV as one of our career-planning tools.”

Together with another career facilitator and an assistant, Ramsay is gearing up to deliver career planning guidance, activities and programs to the 1500 grade 8-12 students this year at her school, whose graduates have garnered many recent awards, including a prestigious ROTC scholarship with a value of over $100,000.

Educators, students and others interested in signing up their high schools for the awards program, or in using the YKV search tools, may go to www.youknowversity.com.

For more information, please contact:

Beverley Ramsay at 604-581-5500 or email: ramsay_b@sd36.bc.ca

Angela Ferguson at 250-319-8554 or email: aferguson@ykvmarketing.com