• Gain personal and professional satisfaction in helping a first-generation college student.
• Help a young person reach his or her potential and goal of a college degree.
• Improve your interpersonal skills.
• Help a college student learn more about your field of work.
• Understand the issues and challenges that young people face today and want to contribute to the solution.
• Aid in navigating the college process.
• Create a lifelong connection and make an impact on someone's life.

Mentoring a freshman in college is not easy. First-year students have a hard time keeping organized and are often nervous or confused about mentoring and the steps to take when getting started. There is so much going on in the first year that students are often overwhelmed, don't get enough sleep or even remember to call their parents.

A CSP mentor is a caring, adult friend who devotes time to a college student participating in our program. Mentoring is many things and mentors have the same goal in common:

To help young people achieve their potential and discover their strengths.

Mentors should understand they are not meant to replace a parent, guardian or family member. A mentor is not a disciplinarian or decision-maker for a student. Instead, a mentor echoes the positive values and cultural heritage parents and guardians are teaching. A mentor is part of a team of caring adults.

A mentor's main purpose is to help a young person define individual goals and find ways to achieve them. Since the expectations of each child will vary, the mentor's job is to encourage the development of a flexible relationship that responds to both the mentor's and the young person's needs.

By sharing fun activities and exposing a youth to new experiences, a mentor encourages positive choices, promotes high self-esteem, supports academic achievement, and introduces the young person to new ideas.

Interested in becoming a mentor? Contact Sheri Gross!