News Photo by Julie Goldberg Ashley Timmreck is the new AdviseMI college adviser for Alpena High School and Alternative Choices for Educational Success (ACES) Academy.

ALPENA — New to assisting Alpena students as an AdviseMI college adviser is Ashley Timmreck.

Her job is to prepare kids for postsecondary education at Alpena High School and Alternative Choices for Educational Success (ACES) Academy

Timmreck is a 2014 AHS graduate, went to college at Saginaw Valley State University, and is back in Alpena after graduating in the spring to assist students as they prepare for college or career training.

“My future plan is actually medical school, but I thought this would be a great job to kind of bridge the gap while still getting to help the community and help people, which is ultimately my goal as a physician,” Timmreck said.

Some of the things Timmreck will assist the students with are college applications and fee waivers, paying for college and the financial aid process, completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), college visits, choosing a college, and many other items.

Timmreck hopes she can be someone who students can reach out to if they need assistance and let them learn from what she learned when she went through the process in high school.

AHS Principal Thomas Berriman said the two schools are lucky to have Timmreck as the new AdviseMI college adviser.

“She knows the building, knows a lot of the teachers, knows the layout, knows the culture, so the honeymoon stage is going to be much shorter with her versus someone that is new to the community,” Berriman said. “We’re really excited for that aspect and Ashley is tremendously talented. She’s going to do an outstanding job.”

ACES Principal Matt Poli said Timmreck will provide a connection to the students at ACES that will help them figure out what they want to do after college.

“She’ll be the link to help lead to a college, whether it’s a four-year or a two-year college,” Poli said.

“That’s a whole different ball game,” Timmreck said of helping students at ACES, a school for students who struggled in traditional high school. “I’m hoping to just meet more one-on-one with students whereas, at the high school, I’m going to do some more class presentations, we’ll have a lot more admissions representatives come here.”

Poli said Timmreck meeting with the students at ACES one-on-one will benefit the students a lot. He said Timmreck will be able to sit down with the students and help them transition into what they want to do after they graduate from ACES.

“It will be a definite benefit for them,” Poli said. “They will be able to seek her out, she will be able to help them, and she will be accepted into the building quickly.”

Timmreck said she wants to explore other options beyond colleges with ACES, like trade school, certificate programs, and on-the-job training after high school.

For first-generation college students, Timmreck wants to connect them to resources since they have more to learn.

“I hope I can teach them how to do the financial aid process on their own, that they feel confident, so when they are away at school and they’re doing it on their own, they feel confident in themselves,” she said.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or 989-358-5688.