If one of your New Year's resolutions is to spend more time engaging in volunteer activities, a local program has an opportunity for you. Young Scholars is seeking adults to mentor at-risk young people in the area; the program is designed to encourage local at-risk students to become college-bound.
Mentors in the program serve as one-on-one adult role models. They are assigned to one student, with whom they meet at least once a month. The mentor and student participate in an activity that interests them both – anything from attending a sporting event or going to the mall, to visiting a museum or going out to dinner. The mentoring component does not involve tutoring or academic work.
Young Scholars, which has been in existence for 11 years, is operated through Utica College and the Utica City School District. Flossie Mitchell, director of Young Scholars and former Hamilton dean of students, says the students are identified by their teachers as having the potential to succeed. Each year 50-60 students are identified, beginning when they're in 7th grade, and are then matched with a mentor. The hope is that the mentor maintains the relationship with the student from 7th grade through 12th. Mitchell said about 45 percent of the students are students of color, and there are many Bosnian and Russian immigrants. The mentors really get to know the students, Mitchell said. "They serve as another voice to encourage the students to go on with their education," she said
Prospective mentors should have the desire and interest in making a connection with a student between the ages of 12 and 18. They are asked to first complete an application, then Maria Elena Santos, coordinator of the mentoring program, conducts a telephone or in-person interview. She then facilitates a meeting between student and mentor in order to match them by interests. The mentors complete a short training program so that they have some guidelines as to what is expected of them.
Mitchell says the program has been very successful. Of six Young Scholar cohort groups that have been assessed, there is as 95 percent graduation rate, and 75-80 percent go on to college. For more information or to obtain an application, call Flossie Mitchell or Maria Santos at 792-3237.
