Krissy DeAlejandro was born to a 16 year old mom & 18 year old father, growing up in a 638 square foot home. She was the first in her family to attend college. After completing her Master’s Degree, as a Doctoral candidate, she began working in Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale’s office. Within days of an initial meeting, Randy Boyd had helped raise 2.3 million dollars to begin a mentoring program to prep students for post secondary education.
Over the past 15 years, TN Achieves reached 600 thousand students. A majority of students attending post-secondary are in Community Colleges. The success of the program depends on professionals with a heart for mentorship. While there are many encouraging stories, students sometimes need help to navigate around roadblocks, sometimes just needing someone to encourage them not to “walk away”.
All told, the program has coordinated 5 million hours of service.
The Pandemic through all new challenges into the mix, increasing the need for computers and other tools for remote learning and mentorship. While Hope Scholarships help with tuition & books, Knox Achieves looks for ways to help with other expenses .
Since the program began, the percentage of students moving on from Community College to a four-year College or University has nearly doubled.
The biggest need is MENTORS! There is a need for 250 mentors in Knox County alone.
For information on becoming a Mentor, visit https://tnachieves.org/mentors/resources/.