LEWISTON – Jacob LaRoche’s road to college was bumpy. In his early high school years he didn’t take school seriously, he said, describing himself as a “class-clown type.” He had caring teachers and parents, but he didn’t regularly do his homework.

“There was always something more fun to do,” he said. He didn’t believe a strong grade-point average was that important for college. Passing and getting the credits should be good enough, he reasoned.

But his parents and Lewiston educators working to raise aspirations and increase college readiness got him on the right path in time: The first-generation college student is now a freshman at the University of Maine in Orono.

His parents were successful without college degrees, “but they always stressed to me, I need to go to college,” Jacob said.

Children whose parents didn’t go to college are less likely to go themselves. Parents may feel college is unnecessary, unaffordable or they simply don’t know how to help their children through the college-preparation process.

That wasn’t the case for Jacob. His mother, especially, kept a close eye on his grades.

“My mom wanted progress reports from teachers,” he said.

Another motivator was a mentor who helped him get his “stuff together.”

That mentor, Lewiston Regional Technical Center art teacher Jode Dube, nominated Jacob to participate in the World Scholar-Athlete Games in Rhode Island, where Jacob played rugby with students from Ireland and Australia. He also heard speakers such as former President Bill Clinton and Olympic skier Bode Miller. “It ended up being a really great time. The best part of it was about peace-building,” he recalled.

That experience opened his eyes, Jacob said. “I became a lot more serious about what I wanted to do. I took my classes pretty seriously.”

Jacob also credited the school’s aspirations lab. “You can come in during study hall and research college stuff.”

During his senior year he participated in the school’s Early College program, taking an economics course at the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College. That experience was encouraging, he said.

“It was awesome to get those three credits transferred to what I’m doing now.”