Washington students get a surprise visit from Niele Ivey as part of College Go week

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Students at South Bend Washington High School got a special treat Wednesday, as Notre Dame women's basketball head coach Niele Ivey made a surprise visit as part of "College Go week", where students learn more about their post high school options.

It's nearly decision time for seniors at South Bend Washington High School, for what they want to do after graduation.
Some will go to college, some will go to trade schools, and some will make their own path.
For college go week, school leaders want to make sure their students have all the information available to them before they decide.

"I want them to take from this week that college is possible for them. A lot of them will be first generation collegegoers, and some of them will go into the military, but I want them to see someone real that's close that they've probably seen on TV," says Barry Spencer, Washington High School director of counseling.

That 'someone' was Notre Dame women's basketball head coach Niele Ivey.
Like many students at South Bend Washington, Ivey did not have the easiest upbringing during her childhood in St. Louis.

"Not a lot of people from my neighborhood made it out, my best friend got pregnant when she was 13, my environment was very hard, so I utilized and used sports for my focus and I used academics as a way out," said Ivey.

Washington's principal tells ABC57 the choice to get Ivey to talk to his students was intentional.

"To have someone of the magnitude like Coach Ivey, with the story of where she came from and grew up, she looks like a lot of our students, which means a great deal, because that is the message that's being projected, kids see that and it speaks to them, and that's the goal of this," says Kevin Goralczyk, Washington High School principal.

At the end of the day, the staff at Washington want to use College Go week for students to understand some things in life may seem impossible now, but having belief is key.

"Some of them may not understand that there's a four-year college or a two-year training college or careers out there after. And this being College Go week, trying to create a spark or interest with juniors and seniors right now, and then word will spread throughout the rest of the building, so that people can get excited," says Goralczyk.

Washington's counseling director described Coach Ivey as someone who displays remarkability and resiliency and says his students can understand and relate to that.