News

Do you have an idea for a news story? We are always looking for new content to include in our newsletter and on our news webpage, and we welcome your input. If you’ve seen ORP programs in action and would like to share and showcase story ideas with us, email Elyssee Gibson and we will work together to spread the good news!

Nathaniel Surratt and Jacorian Logan pose with their families and support system from Freedom High School.

Burke County Best Friends Receive Full-Ride Scholarship

April 21, 2026

Two Freedom High School seniors will attend Appalachian State University in the fall on a four-year, full cost scholarship. The two seniors, Jacorian Logan and Nathaniel Surratt, are childhood best friends who “do everything together,” according to Burke County Next …

Volunteers working in the Feeding Avery Families warehouse

Next Step Adviser Builds Community Through Service

February 2, 2026

As the Avery County Next Step Adviser, Fitz Fitzgerald is responsible for helping students make a plan for life after high school. He guides students in choosing which pathway may be right for them, whether that be college, the military, …

Advise NC at App State and Office of Rural Promise Staff Present the Listening Tour

Advise NC at Appalachian State Helps High School Seniors Take Their Next Steps

November 7, 2025

The midway mark of the fall semester has come and gone, bringing thousands of students across the state to a critical point in their senior year of high school. Senior year brings with it a multitude of additional tasks as students and …

Ashe County High School Countdown to College Event Hosted by Advise NC Next Step Adviser, Lorena Calvillo

Ashe County High School “Counts Down” to College

November 3, 2025

On Tuesday, October 14, Ashe County High School participated in College for North Carolina’s “Countdown to College Week” with an event planned and organized by Ashe County’s Advise NC Next Step Adviser, Lorena Calvillo. Present at the event were Ashe County GEAR UP Coordinator, …

College Adviser Meets Students Where They Are

April 9, 2025

On September 24, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Ashe County, North Carolina. The devastation following the storm left many families in rural Ashe without power, water, internet, or access to main roads for weeks. Ashe County Schools were also …

Isabella Mowery, adviser McDowell High School

Strength Through Struggle

January 7, 2025

Have you ever gotten something you really wanted and then once you have it you don’t know if you want it anymore? That is exactly how eighteen-year-old me felt after a semester at UNC Chapel Hill. Honestly, I didn’t know …

Kenley (Jackson) Longbottom, adviser Alleghany High School

It’s Year Three… Here is My Final Thought

December 20, 2024

Dear AppCAC, As college advisers, we hold a unique and powerful position: we guide students through one of the most transformative stages of their lives. Every day, we are given the opportunity to make a difference in a young person’s …

Lorena Calvillo Ashe County High School Adviser

Homecoming

September 16, 2024

It’s strange returning to a place you vowed you would never return to…yet that is what I was doing when I started as a College Adviser at my old high school, Ashe County High School last year. It is ironic …

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