Katy Resop is completing her first term of service as an AmeriCorps member with Admission Possible Milwaukee. Admission Possible makes college admission and success possible for low-income students through an intensive curriculum of coaching and support. While all of Admission Possible’s coaches are committed to service and positively impacting the lives of low-income students, Katy goes above and beyond to serve students and support other Corps members.

Katy currently serves as a junior coach, working directly with 32 high school juniors at St. Joan Antida High School in Milwaukee, WI through after-school college preparatory programming throughout the school year. Katy’s students have spent the year preparing for the ACT, a crucial step on the path to college admission: with strong ACT scores, they will be prepared to apply to—and earn admission to—four-year colleges. In addition to teaching Admission Possible curriculum on ACT content and strategies, essay writing and preparing for college, Katy has enriched her coaching sessions by including lessons and conversations that relate directly to the lives and experiences of her students, all of whom are all low-income young women of color. This additional content—on famous and inspirational women of color, racism and poverty, to name a few topics—has helped students think more about the issues that shape their experience and has given them additional motivation to pursue college education as a pathway out of poverty.

Katy learned early in the year that problems in her students’ personal lives often affected their attendance and engagement in Admission Possible sessions, so she has worked to build individual relationships with them. While Katy can’t solve their problems for them, she is a strong source of support and encouragement. Her commitment to students as whole individuals has won their trust, and students are willing to attend after-school sessions even when troubled by personal problems because they know that a caring, near-peer role model is there to listen to their concerns and help them problem solve alongside ACT preparation. Her students understand the commitment and responsibility that they need to have in order to succeed, which is why 100% of her students were ready and prepared at their official ACT testing sites in April.

As inspirational and supportive as Katy is for her students, she is equally so for other Admission Possible AmeriCorps members. Katy’s example of how to serve youth compassionately and effectively has encouraged other Corps members to engage their students beyond the college preparatory curriculum too, and she is always willing to share ideas on how to breathe life into lessons when coaches are struggling. Katy’s supportive presence and positive attitude, even in challenging situations, help her serve others in ways that will have lasting influence for Admission Possible, students in Milwaukee and the service community as a whole.