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The sky is not falling. This national economic quagmire may seem like the end of time.

The Reidsville Area Foundation, the Rockingham Education Foundation and many other groups and individuals are working hard at what to do during tough times .

A major step toward the future is helping high school students navigate the intricate maze of applying to college through connecting with the Carolina College Advising Corps.

Life presents its own aha moments. Several years ago, a grocery chain declined to move to the Eden area because of the high ratio of population with little or no college education. College graduates would have been more likely to shop in a higher-end store, according to grocery executives.

It is no secret that good jobs that did not require a college degree are gone from this area. More education is now the stepping-stone to jobs that were unheard of a generation ago.

Molly Norwood knows the value of a college education and how to plan to get one. She is the new college adviser this year for Morehead High School in Eden.

Norwood was trained by the Carolina College Advisory Corps, an arm of the National College Advisory Corps at Chapel Hill. Norwood is a native of Graham and a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, a requirement of college advisers in the program.

Last week, she was decked out in her Carolina blue “Team Day” shirt for Homecoming Week. Her position is funded for one or two years.

Norwood’s decision to attend college was influenced by her parents, both college graduates, and her guidance counselor, Brenda Payne, at Southern Alamance High School. Norwood is at Morehead to “help all the students” with one-on-one visits. She will help each student who wants to apply to a college with the application process, as well as help students find the college that is the best fit.

The College Advising Corps members “give students the individual attention they deserve during one of the most important decisions in life,” said Joy Toms, lead guidance counselor at Morehead and Norwood’s mentor.

Norwood also will be involved with College Application Week coming up the week on Nov. 12. She also speaks to classes and helps students register for SAT tests. She looks for students who might “fall through the cracks” of the college admissions process. When one of Norwood’s classmates stopped applying because no one told him that he should take the SAT, his story became a real motivator for Norwood to make sure others don’t end up without an opportunity.

This year is the first that all four high schools in the county are providing college advisers from the Carolina College Advising Corps.

The original model for a county was one adviser for two schools, and that is how Rockingham County started out. But with determination and fundraising skills from the Rockingham Area Foundation, Miller/Coors, Rockingham Education Foundation, Home Savings and Loan, and others spearheading the effort, Rockingham County funded an adviser for each high school.

The purpose of the program is to serve low-income and first-generation college applicants and, ultimately, to change the cultural climate of Rockingham County.

The Reidsville Area Foundation is challenging the residents of the county to understand the importance of education for jobs now and in the future.

Lee Niegelsky, member, lists the mission of not only the Reidsville Area Foundation but other groups as well. He said public education is the most important; raising the profile of public education is another goal, and participation in a countywide effort of doing something together as a county and region is necessary for change to occur.

In the beginning of the Carolina College Advising Corps a few years ago, the counties involved were to provide half of the cost. When the county wanted to add a college adviser for each school this year, Niegelsky said, “We’ll just pay for it all ourselves.”

“We’re a leader in the state” now, Niegelsky said.

In the few years that the college advising program has been in existence, scholarship money for college-bound students has risen from $12 million to $17 million.

Yolanda Keith, program coordinator of the Carolina College Advising Corps, is a first-generation college graduate who wishes she’d had an adviser before going to a community college and then to the UNC-Chapel Hill.

Today, with help from college advisers, the odds are good that Rockingham County will continue to see that each student in every category has the chance to fulfill their dreams and at the same time, change the dynamics of a poor economy in a difficult period to one of hope and success.

An Eden native, Rachel Wright is retired as a teacher at Morehead High School and an instructor at Rockingham Community College.