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Mentor Monday is January 27: WKYC Studios to partner with College Now to recruit mentors for new college students

College Now needs 1,200 mentors for kids heading to college this fall, many of them students from Cleveland public schools who will earn free tuition scholarships.

CLEVELAND — Remember when you went to college, or your son or daughter, maybe even a niece or nephew? While kids feel they are ready to live life on their own, that can change quickly when they get on campus and mom and dad drive away. Now, they truly are on their own and it’s not always easy.

So, on Monday, January 27, WKYC studios is devoting a portion of its shows to Mentor Monday. We’ve partnered with College Now of Greater Cleveland to help them recruit and sign up mentors for kids going to college this fall. Hundreds of those kids are current Cleveland Metropolitan School District seniors who are eligible for the Say Yes to Education scholarship with gives students free college tuition. However, as part of the scholarship, the kids are required to have a mentor to help them navigate their 4 years of school.

Cleveland became a Say Yes to Education chapter in January of 2019. It’s a national nonprofit that hopes to revitalize communities by helping them give every public high school graduate access to college or other postsecondary scholarships. It was founded in 1987 by money manager George Weiss.

For the second year in a row, CMSD CEO Eric Gordon, himself a mentor, challenged his employees to become mentors. Last year, in one day, 125 signed up. On January 27, we invited those who’ve signed up to become mentors this fall to our studio to thank them and encourage them to recruit at least one more person to be a mentor.

Watch our shows on Monday, January 27 to see how you can become a mentor, what the requirements are, and hear from current mentors on what the experience has been like for them. 

We also spotlighted College Now’s mentoring program on Facebook Live and YouTube:

We would also like to thank Cleveland chef Doug Katz of Fire Catering who is providing appetizers and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for the event. 

A special thanks to Lago for providing drinks and to Shawntel Davis of Sweet Treats by Shawntel who put together take home treats for our guests.  A thank you also goes to McDonald Hopkins, the sponsor of this event.

For more information and to sign up to be a mentor, visit College Now’s website at https://www.collegenowgc.org/

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RELATED: Mentor Monday succeeds in netting 125 sign-ups for College Now program

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