The road to college is beginning earlier than ever before for students in St. Louis Park elementary schools, with the help of the SPARKS grant.

The SPARKS grant is a three-year elementary school counseling grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The grant provides a full-time licensed counselor at each of St. Louis Parks’ four elementary schools. It also creates programs based on positive youth development and finding the “spark” to learn inside every student, according to the Sparks in SLP Website.

However, the survival of the programs sponsored by the grant, including college and career month, currently hangs in jeopardy of being lost. The government funding of these programs is part of a three-year plan which expires at the end of this year. For the SPARKS programs to survive they will need to receive funding from the school district. Grant coordinator Hannah Scherer said this is all tentative at the moment, and she hopes the program will be able to continue.

“We’re really fighting right now to prove that we’re important and trying to keep the programs alive,” she said. “It’s going to be interesting, we may not continue but we are hopeful.”

College and Career Exploration month is just one example of the multiple programs the grant established. Throughout the month, students participate in events such as college T-shirt days, dress up as your favorite career and college trivia, as well as a college and career fair and a guest speaker from the U of M, all under the leadership of the counselors. Parents are also encouraged to discuss college plans with their kids at home.

Freshman Kirby Goodman said she thinks these events will help inspire students to talk more about college, especially if they have no older siblings to look to for college experience.

“I learned about college at home, so it’s good to introduce it to people without older siblings,” Goodman said.

Scherer said this program sets out to help students later in their high school career when college becomes a more serious question.

“It helps them understand what college is and opens their eyes to the idea that no matter what you do after high school, you’re still going to be learning,” Scherer said. “We’re never done learning and college is just another step in that journey.”

To help students on their journey, counselor and grant writer at the high school Angela Jerabek said the program will raise young kids’ awareness about college so they can expand their understanding of it once they reach high school.

“The high school counselors are aware of the college and career pieces going on and they are going to attend them to learn more,” Jerabek said. “Any time there is previous knowledge about college, there’s more things we can work with them on by the time they reach the high school.”

If the program continues, Scherer said that incorporating high school students into the college and career month will be essential to its growth.

“Our hope is for high school kids to come in and talk about how they made the choice to go to college and which college to go to,” Scherer said. “It really helps little kids to make that connection when they have older students to look up to.”