Ashley Bigard, with her husband. Bigard is the new Assistant Director of the TRIO program. Photo by Ashley Bigard via Facebook.
Ashley Bigard became the new Assistant Director for the TRiO program here on campus. The TRiO program itself is not an acronym. It stands for the three programs involved: Upward Bound, Talent Search and Student Support Services, when it was first implemented in 1965, due to passing of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which was intended to strengthen the educational resources of our colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance for students in postsecondary and higher education.
Here at Lake Land College, the TRiO program is divided up into two programs, Student Support Services and Destination College. Recently, Lori Ohnesorge, who became director for the entire TRiO program after previously overseeing the Destination College program, decided she needed an assistant to alleviate the workload for TRiO. Currently under both Ohnesorge and Bigard within the TRiO program are Lindsay Shriver and Tara Cavanagh, who are both Destination College Outreach Advisors.
Bigard pointed out that the restructuring of the TRiO program is a result of “Lori (Ohnesorge) being over two TRiO programs, TRiO SSS (Student Support Services) and TRiO Destination College.
Bigard, in regards to how her experience is related to her current position stated, “I worked in education for seven years. I have been an academic advisor for Olney Central Community College. There, I worked with TRiO programs and TRiO students. I helped recruit as well as talk to students about the TRiO programs. I directed them to the TRiO programs. I helped the students anyway that I could. In addition, I ran a Title III grant, a federal grant, which was my other experience being a supervisor.”
Beforehand, Bigard mentioned that she was “the psychiatrist therapist for Help United in Effingham.” She went to Eastern Illinois University (EIU) to receive her bachelor’s degree in Family & Consumer Sciences as well as her master’s degree in the same field with a concentration in Family Services.
She clarified that her new duties consist of “going with both Shriver and Cavanagh or going alone to all nine schools within our district and talking to the principals, administrators, counselors and getting in front of the students in classroom presentations to explain what our program is about. Lori who has gone to the schools previously will no longer do so. One of the biggest things is to communicate that we are here for our students, help them be successful and get to the college of their choosing. Whatever barriers are there, we are here to help.”
Let’s hope that the TRiO program continues its mission statement of ensuring that students will be able to succeed and for the program to last infinitely on campus.
