CLEVELAND — Engage Cleveland is the newest organization to join College Now and WKYC Studios in our annual Mentor Monday campaign. Engage Cleveland brings young professionals and business leaders together with the goal of making Cleveland home for the next generation. So, they understand the power of mentorships.
“We are hoping to help College Now attract some of the young professionals we work with, who then will mentor college students because they have recently been there and done that. So, they are not looking back, I was in college 20 years ago, but I was in college 2 years ago, 3 years ago and here was my experience,” says Ashley Basile Oeken, the President of Engage Cleveland.
Among the young people to be paired up with mentors are Cleveland students who receive the Say Yes to Education scholarship, about two-thirds of whom are first-generation college students. To keep their scholarships, they must have a mentor throughout their higher education experience.
Engage member Stephanie Silverman was a first-generation student in her family, and she knows navigating the college landscape is not easy. She was surprised to learn a friend of hers is a College Now mentor, and that inspired her to become a mentor too.
“I think the hardest commitment is saying yes, and once you say yes, it is so rewarding to me. The fact that I could offer someone what has been given to me is beyond inspiring,” says Stephanie Silverman, owner and co-founder of Your Teen Media. The company is a resource for raising teenagers.
Silverman is also a mentor through Engage Cleveland’s new program that pairs successful businesswomen and younger professionals together. She’s been matched with Delany Canfield of Shape Cleveland, a non-profit photo and video studio that gives interns hands-on experience.
“The things that I have learned through my mentor have already translated to the bigger picture of my workplace and really translating that to myself,” says Delany Canfield, the Operations Manager for Shape Cleveland.
It’s the continuum of mentoring Engage Cleveland wants to be a part of, now starting with college students.
“We know mentoring is important no matter what age someone is,” says Oeken.
March 8 is Mentor Monday at WKYC Studios. We want to help recruit 100 mentors for the College Now Greater Cleveland mentoring program.
The requirements to become a mentor are:
- Fill out an application
- Complete a short phone interview
- Attend a brief orientation
- Pass a background check
- Hold a college degree
- Commit to communicating with your mentee twice per month through email and meet three times per year
To apply to become a mentor click here. The deadline is April 1. And watch Mentor Monday on WKYC on March 8 to learn about the College Now mentorship program.
RELATED: Mentoring During COVID-19: How one mentor is helping her mentee stay on course during the pandemic
Note: Your Teen Media is presenting an 8-week series for parents to navigate the college process beginning Tuesday March 9th. The series will feature 15 experts. If interested, follow this link: https://yourteen.mykajabi.com/college-summit
- Engage Cleveland: https://www.engagecleveland.org
- Your Teen: https://yourteenmag.com
- Shape Cleveland: https://shapecleveland.org