Our Team

Project Youth+ is led by a dedicated staff and supported by our Board of Directors.

Board of Directors

Featured
Steve Boyarsky, President
Steve Boyarsky, President

Steve was born and raised in California’s Central Valley. Upon graduation from Western Washington University, he married his high school sweetheart and moved to Redmond, Oregon where Mary accepted a teaching job. While driving school bus and helping Mary, he found he liked working with kids. He earned a teaching certificate and Master’s from Western Oregon University. Steve taught high school biology, leadership and anatomy and physiology in Medford schools for 18 years.

Steve transitioned to Southern Oregon University coordinating college-high programs and Southern Oregon ESD as a grant writer. He worked at the ESD for 10 years as curriculum coordinator and 6 as superintendent.

Steve and Mary have three children and two granddaughters. In retirement he has enjoyed fly fishing, drumming in a band and writing interviews for the Mail Tribune and Southern Oregon Magazine. Steve serves on the boards of Project Youth+, Crater Lake Trust and Gordon Elwood Foundation.

Carol Christen, Vice President
Carol Christen, Vice President

Carol is the author, of What Color Is Your Parachute for Teens, Random House, 4th ed. 2021.

Carol is indebted to a long-ago act of educational equity for her career and life success. Carol believes the ability to earn a decent living is an inalienable right, especially in a country with no security nets. Sadly not many U.S. youth have access to help with achieving, much less knowing, their career and education goals.

Carol heard about College Dreams soon after moving to Grants Pass in 2017. While now Youth Project+, it’s still a match made in mission heaven. Carol looks forward to helping Youth Project+.

Armando Lopez
Armando Lopez

Armando was born in Michoacán Mexico. In 1989, he and his mother and two sisters immigrated to the United States to be with my father and two brothers.

Armando graduated from Southern Oregon University with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Spanish. His first goal was to become a Spanish teacher. While at SOU he had the opportunity to join several leadership programs for minority groups. Once he graduated, he was hired as an Admissions Counselor for diversity outreach and recruitment at SOU. He had the opportunity to meet with so many students, their families and give advice on the admissions and the college search process.

In 2009 Armando started to work for his father’s forestry company. This job allows him to get involved in local organizations such as the Southern Oregon Latino Scholarship Fund, SOU Youth Programs and the Providence Foundation. Armando is the JV Soccer Coach at North Medford High School and enjoys travel, golf, mountain biking and hiking.

Kendell Ferguson
Kendell Ferguson

Kendell was born and raised in Medford, Oregon. She graduated from South Medford High School in 1999. She attended Southern Oregon University and graduated Cum Laude in 2003 with a degree in Chemistry. She then went to law school at the University of Oregon and earned my JD in 2007. She began practicing law in Grants Pass that same year. She was on the Board of Directors for ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum from 2008 to 2013. She was on the Board of Directors for Lovejoy Hospice from 2012 until they closed in 2017. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family, friends, and dogs.

Brenda Patton
Brenda Patton

Brenda founded Table Rock Foundation with her good friend Phil Hart in 1996 with the intent to connect caring people around the globe with a focus on humanitarian, cultural and environmental projects, believing that by teaching our future generations the philosophy of self-worth, as well as service above self, we could improve the quality of life for all.

Katie E. Mena
Katie E. Mena

Born and raised in Phoenix, Oregon, Katie graduated from Phoenix High School in 2015. As a secondary student she was a very active participant in Project Youth+ (then called College Dreams). She earned her BS in Psychology and Liberal Studies and BA in Spanish as well as a Certificate in Chicano Latino Studies and Global Studies at Portland State University. She wanted to return home to be with her Mom and two younger sisters (15 and 12). This is her second year working for Southern Oregon ESD Migrant Services. She is gaining experience to determine her next career move, perhaps in computer programming.