Varsity Student Institute

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Our Mission To provide innovative and insightful educational resources, tools and programs for student athletes, their families and coaches in the Northwest to help them better understand the college identification and selection process. The VSI staff consists of college coaches, high school coaches, guidance counselors, ex-college athletes, ex-professional athletes and parents that have all been involved with the college selection and recruiting process. We all know how the process works and how to work the process and be successful. High School Career All-State, All-New England, Honorable Mention All American Soccer Gary's background in sales, communications and his empirical knowledge of the college selection and recruiting process has made him an expert. Developing a plan, executing the plan will always create a winning situation for each of his clients..! Former Canadian National Team member, Lisa Unsworth, has coached in the NCAA for 14 years at all Divisions: I, II and III. Unsworth comes to Portland from Calgary, Alberta, where previously she was the head coach of the Calgary Wildfire, a USL W-League team and more recently for 3 years at Lewis & Clark College. From 2000-2004, Unsworth was the head women's soccer coach at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Previously, she spent the 1997-98 seasons as the first assistant at the University of Kansas and earlier was a graduate assistant coach at both Drury University and Gonzaga University. Unsworth had an outstanding playing career, highlighted by being named as a Canadian National team member from 1991-93. She was also a member of the Alberta Provincial team from 1988-1993, competing in the Canada Games finals in 1993. In 2001, she was selected as an assistant coach for the Canadian National team which competed in the FISU World Student Games in Beijing, China. Lisa earned bachelor's degrees from The University of Calgary and Gonzaga University, and her Master of Education from Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. While coaching in the NCAA, she enjoyed the close relationships she built with players and families in the recruiting process. She is excited to continue the hard work for VSI to see that student-athletes become empowered in the recruiting search to find the best college or university. Lisa sees the destination of college as being one of the most significant contributors to shaping young people's futures and realizes how important this life step is. As you'll quickly discover, Larry's passion for the world of higher education is both engaging and infectious. Using a detailed selection process to determine the right school for each student-athlete, Larry looks at all of the different factors that lead to a highly successful college experience. Along the way, he's able to share critical tips with students and parents on how to work effectively with a school's admissions staff, how to choose the right major, and how to maximize the odds of obtaining the best balance of athletics and academics. 5 US National Teams for World Rowing Championships and Pan American Games ( sweep and sculling ) Member of USRowing High Performance Committee for the 4 "year" quadrennial leading up to the 2004 Athens Olympics Paula knows the college financial aid system and works with parents to develop strategies to pay for their children's college education. Paula is a Certified College Planning Specialist, and has received extensive training in the details of the financial aid system. She is a frequent speaker on The Secrets of Financial Aid for College and presents to high school parents, financial planners, college counselors, CPAs and church/sports groups. Paula holds an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley, and a BS in Economics with a major in Finance from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Washington Society of CPAs, the American Society of Women Accountants and the American Institute of Certif