Although Strive has been around for many years, during the last few, teacher Brian Borchardt decided to tackle the program and bring it needed attention and candidates.

Strive is a scholarship program that juniors and seniors get asked to join where they learn about involvement in the community.  They are presented with different ways that promote opportunity and success.

Borchardt feels passionately about Strive. When asked what Strive meant to him, he replied, “A pathway to opportunity for students.”

Currently, about 70 members participate in Strive.  Grateful for the chance to be a part of something greater, several members reflected on their involvement in Strive. Junior Lauren Hockenberry, first year member said, “Strive is a very cool program, where I have learned different places I can get involved within our community.”

A former Strive member Allison Rohloff also said she was grateful for the opportunity to be a part of Strive her junior and senior year; she wishes it would have been available to her since freshman year. “Strive really showed me that school isn’t the only place I can be creative and express myself. There are places such as YouthGO, and the Boys’ and Girls’ Brigade that was magnificent programs.”

Several students expressed high levels of stress with the reality that high school has become strict with grades and little room exists for messing up. “School and education has to exist beyond brick and mortar,” Borchardt said, and “Strive will present the students with chances and moments that the should grab a hold of.”

According to Borchardt, if there were to be a change in Strive, it would be to make a nighttime program, but because of a lack of resources it will likely stay the way it is.

There are many things people do not tell students about high school such as:  the potential struggles, the motivation required or the reality of not feel like coming to school. But a day where moment of awe exists. That moment for some students was when they became a part of Strive.

Throughout the years, Strive will continue to be at NHS, but it may be improving and featuring a nighttime component. School and community has to progress through the eyes of the students because education should expand out and present opportunity.