GLD Portfolio
SYDNEY PICKETT
LEADERSHIP SECTION
Developing a Connection to Mentorship Before College
BACKGROUND
When looking back on my college experience, I often think on what led to the growth in my leadership skills and confidence. I attribute my growth to the empowerment from several of my mentors, specifically student mentors, that have encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone and enabled my ideas. Growing up, I always had trouble finding a strong support system outside of my family. Once I came to college and found my support system, I understood the value and positive impact that mentorship can have on both mentors and mentees. Student mentorship does not have to only be available when you get to college. Reflecting on my hometown experience, mentorship programs were available but they were not easily accessible in my public school system. Typically, you had to interview in order to be selected and some students were at a disadvantage because they did not know how to properly interview. Having an accessible student mentorship program for high school can be beneficial to high schoolers who are preparing for college or the workforce. When looking at studies to see if there is a need for programs like this, I found that mentorship program in high schools can lead to increased academic performance, decrease in school infractions, higher rates of self-esteem and connectedness.
IMPLEMENTATION
When researching why mentorship program were needed, there was emphasis on making sure the mentorship program is effective for the students involved. If the program is not relevant or effective for the target audience, it can have negative impacts on students. As a future professional of higher education, I would be working to develop different leadership programs that would help with growth of college students’ leadership and service skills. When creating leadership programs like a mentorship program you need to define appropriate goals that would need to be satisfied through the program for the mentors and mentees. The goal of this program is to provide accessible mentorship to a local high school that will prepare mentees in college and workforce readiness as well as other useful life skills. I would want to make this program flexible to fit any high school demographic because any type of high school student could benefit from a program like this. It will also provide leadership development, professional development and outreach opportunities to college student mentors. After defining my goal, I would want to create an outline of the program. This mentorship program would be an 8-month program that starts in the October and ends in May. Mentors and mentees will meet twice a month at the high school to check in with each other and to talk about different life skills to help high schoolers be successful in whatever avenue they want to pursue in the future. I have broken down how to implement this program step by step using what I have learned through my key insights.
EVALUATION
In order to see if this program is effective and worth continuing, there would be surveys sent out to mentees, mentors, and teachers at the high schools. The mentees will receive two surveys, one at the beginning and one end of the year. The first survey would ask questions in order to gauge their confidence towards their high school life and plans for the future. Some of the questions included:
1. Would be how much thought have you given to your after high school plans?
2. If they feel like they have a strong support system?
3. Where would they gauge their confidence in self and their studies?
Then after the program, they would take a survey that would include the same questions as the first survey but also ask questions to see how effective the program was. These questions would be include:
1. Did you enjoyed the program
2. What was your favorite and least favorite parts of the curriculum?
3. Did you form a bond with your mentor?
4. Was this program useful in adulthood preparedness?
5. Would you participate in this program again if given the chance?
A survey would also be sent out to the mentors to see if they felt this was a valuable volunteer experience and what to improve in the future. The questions that would be featured in this survey would be:
1. Did you feel trainings prepared them for mentoring?
2. Did you feel connected with their mentees?
3. Any suggestions of curriculum changes?
4. In what ways could this program improve in the future?
5. Would you participate in this program again if given a chance?
Lastly a survey would send out to the mentees teachers to see if they noticed a change in students’ confidence, attendance, attention, and attitude from being a part of the programs. Using these different surveys will help me decide whether the program would be continued on and if so, how can we make it better for future participants.