Bridging the Achievement Gap through Student Mentoring

Format

Poster Presentation

Location

Harborside Center

Strand #1

Academic Achievement & School Leadership

Strand #2

Social & Emotional Skills

Relevance

Advocacy through one-on-one mentoring can be a tremendous asset in the narrowing of the achievement gap for disadvantaged youth. Our poster session will take a look at how one such college-led mentoring program works to build social and emotional resiliency within youth while enriching their academic strengths at the same time.

Brief Program Description

Target audience to include any administrators, program directors, or other students who work directly with at-risk or disadvantaged youth. Objective will be to demonstrate the tools, strategies, and resources our youth advocates employ to give youth a voice and help them bridge the achievement gap.

Summary

'Students Advocating for Youth' is a college living-and-learning program that trains 1st and 2nd-year students to serve as youth advocates to disadvantaged 4th through 8th grade students in the community. The children chosen to participate typically are either on free/reduced lunch or have exhibited a lack of home resources - particularly including adult encouragement - that puts them behind their peers at school. Advocacy in "SAY" means that our college mentors mentor these children in a one-on-one setting weekly for an entire academic year.

Children who may lack parental encouragement, necessary resiliency skills, and resources that their economically-advantaged peers have, particularly before they reach high school, often fall behind in school. This process of falling behind is not only academic in nature but with life skills as well. Our college advocates have designed a series of strategies and tools to help these youth find their own voices, build upon their personal and academic strengths, and increase their self-esteem, confidence, and self-awareness. We have constructed our own model for counseling and relationship-building within the mentoring pairing. We hope that participants will be able to take away these strategies for "leveling the playing field" in their own schools and organizations.

Evidence

For ten years, SAY has used pre/post testing to determine the effectiveness of our advocacy and mentoring practices with our youth, most of whom score much higher on end-of-year assessments that measure improvements in self-awareness, confidence, self-esteem, and academic confidence.

Biographical Sketch

Robin McWilliams - Mr. McWilliams has directed the Students Advocating for Youth program at North Carolina State University since 2005. He is also currently the acting director of the Teaching Fellows program at NC State.

Abby Mintz - Miss Mintz is a sophomore Science Education major at North Carolina State University. She has been a member of Students Advocating for Youth for two years and has served as a youth advocate to both an elementary student and a middle school student.

Ali Martin - Miss Martin is a sophomore Elementary Education major at North Carolina State University. She has been a member of Students Advocating for Youth for two years and has served as a youth advocate to both an elementary student and a middle school student.

Kimberly Jones - Miss Jones is a sophomore Math Education major at North Carolina State University. She has been a member of Students Advocating for Youth for two years and has served as a youth advocate to both an elementary student and as an Education Adviser within the SAY program.

Elise Saenger-Heyl - Miss Saenger-Heyl is a sophomore Elementary Education major at North Carolina State University. She has been a member of Students Advocating for Youth for two years and has served as a youth advocate to both an elementary student and as an Education Adviser within the SAY program.

Keyword Descriptors

Mentoring, Life Skill Development, Advocacy, Resiliency

Presentation Year

2016

Start Date

3-8-2016 4:00 PM

End Date

3-8-2016 5:30 PM

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Mar 8th, 4:00 PM Mar 8th, 5:30 PM

Bridging the Achievement Gap through Student Mentoring

Harborside Center

Target audience to include any administrators, program directors, or other students who work directly with at-risk or disadvantaged youth. Objective will be to demonstrate the tools, strategies, and resources our youth advocates employ to give youth a voice and help them bridge the achievement gap.