contact us

540-987-8335
email: Paula Howland, Director

hours

Tuesday - Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and by appointment

office

The Next Step Resource Center is at RCHS, across the hall from the auditorium.

mission

Next Step, in partnership with RCPS faculty and staff, guidance professionals, and community members, makes sure all students have the resources they need to create and carry out the college, vocational, or career plan that's right for them.

history

Thanks to a generous grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Headwaters launched the Next Step Program on January 1, 2005. Rappahannock County Public Schools generously donated office space and two computers. We hooked up an outside phone line and began meeting with students, planning field trips, designing brochures, and making presentations.

accomplishments

Working closely with the RCHS Guidance Department, faculty, administration, and families, we created a resource center (which serves as a college and career access library, conference room, and office), held over 700 student meetings, led over 20 workshops (including a week-long summer program called “College Success”), raised over $50,000 in scholarships, quintupled the number of scholarship applications, and achieved a record number of college applications. We organized field trips, taking 90 students to 19 different campuses – from William and Mary to Germanna Automotive, from Arlington (VA) to Burlington (VT). We created a Common Application form for local scholarships, started a resume/interviewing class with the Business Department, and arranged to have the SAT offered in the county for the first time ever. It’s been a busy and productive time!