Youth Initiated Mentoring

Empowering Students from Underserved Backgrounds for

Higher Education and Career Success

Joan Becker, Vice Provost

Academic Support Services and Undergraduate Studies
UMass Boston

▸ 16,164 students in Fall 2018—12,714 undergraduates

and 3,450 graduate students
▸ Offer bachelors degrees, masters, and doctoral degrees
▸ 51% of our non-international students are students of
color
▸ Our undergraduates are even more diverse with 56%
students of color
▸ 59% are first generation college students
▸ 50% come from low-income backgrounds
▸ 53% of our students speak a language other than
English at home
Connected Futures: Teaching Students to
Develop Networks of Mentors
▸ Pilot Efforts
▸ Urban Scholars—high school students
▸ Directions for Student Potential—Summer program for students who don’t
meet admissions standards but have demonstrated potential.
▸ Non-credit course piloted in spring 2016, fall 2016, and spring 2017

▸ Approved as a 1 credit courses in 2017

▸ RCT Evaluation—six sections in Fall 18 and Spring 19 served 200+
students
▸ Fall 19: six sections; plan to offer 6-8 sections in spring 20
Connected Futures
▸ 1 credit course—meets 75 minutes per week

▸ Currently offering 6-8 sections per semester; serving 120-160

students

▸ Taught by academic advisors, success coaches, and career

specialists

▸ Aimed at first year students, but open to any student

▸ Looking at tailoring sections to beginning students—focused on

transition into higher education, ones to students close to degree
completion—focused on transition to career.
Connected Futures
Pedagogical Approach
▸Interactive, collaborative, and relevant
▸ Connected to student’s goals
▸ Role playing to practice new skills
▸ Constructive feedback
▸ Focused on the “here and now”
▸ “Real world” homework assignments
▸ Culminates in a networking event
▸Supportive
▸ Safe, supportive context: “like a family”
Connected Futures Curriculum
▸ Week 1: Welcome! What is a mentor, and how can
mentors help me?
▸ Week 2: What are my strengths?
▸ Week 3: How do I set goals in my personal and
professional life that I can really achieve?
▸ Week 4: What are my tools for developing and
maintaining relationships with mentors?
▸ Week 5: How do I define my social identity, and what
effect does that have on networking for me?
▸ Week 6: How can I cope effectively with some common
challenges to networking?
▸ Week 7: How do I use my relationships in college to
help me achieve my goals?
 Connected Futures Curriculum
▸ Week 8: How do I identify, recruit and develop a
relationship with a mentor?
▸ Week 9: Who do I need to connect with here on campus?
▸ Week 10: Who am I going to reach out to for an
informational interview?
▸ Week 11: What other tools might I need as I recruit
mentors?
▸ Week 12: What’s next for me? How will I use networking
and mentor attracting skills in the future?
▸ Week 13: Semester Reflection
▸ Week 14: How do I prepare for the Networking Event?
▸ Week 15: Networking Event
What is a mentor, and how can mentors help
me?
▸ Discussion of what a mentor is. What might make it easy to connect
with a mentor (outgoing, membership in many groups, encouragement
of family/friends, etc.)? Are there things that might make it more
difficult (feeling shy or isolated, having insular relationships)?

▸ Discussion of social capital: networks of relationships between people

that allow the individual and society to be more successful.

▸ Responsibilities of the mentee

▸ Take action.
▸ Ask questions.
▸ Don’t be afraid to disagree.
▸ Be open to feedback.
▸ Be clear on your needs.
 What is a mentor?
▸ A mentor is someone with lived
experience, providing guidance,
support, knowledge in a way that
allows another person (the mentee) to
thrive in the mentoring relationship.
▸ A mentor gives guidance, points you to
resources, supports you, discusses
goals and ideas with you, provides you
opportunities to reveal and discuss
challenges, helps you strategize ways
to be successful
▸ Characteristics of a mentor: good
listener, helpful, productive,
experienced, respectful, approachable,
gives valuable advice, give
https://www.themuse.com/advice/how
-to-find-qualities-good-mentor
constructive feedback, is a cheer
leader, willing to be a sponsor
What are my strengths?
Clifton Strengths Quest
▸Everyone has a group of talents within them and your greatest talents
hold the key to high achievement, success, and progress to levels of
personal excellence
▸Becoming aware of your talents builds confidence and provides a
basis for achievement
▸Learning how to develop and apply strengths will improve
achievement
▸Each talent can be applied in many areas including relationships,
learning, academics, leadership, service, and careers
▸As you develop and apply strengths, your achievements will increase
and you will experience greater and more frequent success

https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/252137/home.aspx
How do I set goals in my personal and professional life
that I can really achieve?

▸ Discussion of the types of goals: Personal, Career,

Social, Academic

▸ What makes a goal Successful?

▸ SMART Goals

▸ Goal hurdles--accessing supports

What are my tools for developing and maintaining
relationships with mentors?
▸ Discussion of the elements of professionalism
Standards by which a company/workplace operates
Doing what it takes to make others think of you as
competent, reliable and respectful
Expectations for behavior and appearance,

▸ Role of first impressions

▸ Social media and professionalism

How do I define my social identity and what effect does that
have on networking for me?
• Our social identities are shaped by a myriad of characteristics
including: Race; Ethnicity; SES/Class; Gender; Sex; Sexual
Orientation; National Origin/Indigeneity; First Language;
(Dis)ability--physical, emotional, developmental; Age;
(Non)Religious/Spiritual Affiliation

▸ Students are asked to discuss:

▸ Identities you think about most often;
▸ Identities you think about least often;
▸ Your own identities you would like to know more about;
▸ Identities that have the strongest effect on how you perceive yourself;
▸ Identities that have the greatest effect on how others perceive you.
LSA Inclusive Teaching Initiative, University of Michigan (http://sites.lsa.umich.edu/inclusive-
teaching/)
How can I cope effectively with some common
challenges to networking?
▸ Managing racial, gender, and other biases—
overt and implicit

▸ Understanding and overcoming imposter

syndrome
How do I develop my relationships in college to help
me achieve my goals?
▸ Support On Campus
▸ Ask students to share sources of support on campus and why they would use
them - have students write on poster paper and have each group present
▸  Create a campus eco-map
▸ Introduce Eco-Map and show example. Have students create a campus eco-
map, using the people/offices on campus that can help them achieve their
goals, identifying strong (solid lines) and weak ties (dotted lines)
▸ Campus Interview
▸ Using the campus eco-map, have students select an office on campus to visit.
Preferably have students select a weaker tie or no tie on their eco-map that
they would like to grow to a strong tie.
How to identify and recruit a mentor?

First identify why you need a mentor. What ways can they help you
develop and grow? What are the attributes you desire before you
launch your search?

Where can you find a mentor? You can find a mentor at the following
places:
▸ Campus
▸ Place of worship
▸ Work place
▸ Referrals
▸ LinkedIn
▸ Professional Associations
▸ “a friend, a friend of a friend, a family member, an alumnus of your school, a
co-worker or peer, a current or former boss, someone you got to know
through a networking event”
 INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEW CHECKLIST

Advance Preparation (2 to 5 days before the interview)

 Collect information about the business

 Know the first and the last name of the person with whom you will be meet
 Review list of questions to ask
(Refer to template on blackboard; additional questions at Feld Career Center)

 Know exactly where the interview will take place and how long it will take to get there
 Decide what to wear to the interview

The Day of the Informational Interview

 Have a pen and paper for notes

 Bring your prepared list of questions
 Pay special attention to personal hygiene and choice of clothing
 Leave early in case of traffic jams, parking challenges or unforeseen problems; be prompt and plan
to arrive 10 minutes early
 Be relaxed, friendly and business-like with everyone you meet
 Introduce yourself to the receptionist and confirm appointment

Setting the Scene

 Greet the interviewer by name and shake his or her hand

 Introduce yourself and explain why you are there
 Maintain positive body language (e.g., maintain eye contact, do not cross arms)

Information

 Ask permission to take notes (Do not record or video tape)

 Give a quick indication of the number of questions you have
 Stay on topic and ask for clarification where necessary and when appropriate
 Listen – that is why you are there
 If the interviewee refers to existing documents, systems, equipment or people that you do not
understand, make sure to make a note
 Write down action items to follow up on finding more information
 Finish on time

Conclusion
Networking Event

▸ Required culminating activity

▸ Students are encouraged to invite mentors, we
also invite faculty, staff, alumni, and people in
our networks
▸ Information networking time
▸ “Speed dating” rounds for mini-informational
interviews
Core Principles

▸ Focus on students’ assets and cultural wealth

▸ Recruit mentors from similar backgrounds to the students

being mentored—difference education

▸ Start where the individual is not where you want them to

be

▸ Agency development—teaching underserved youth to

build mentoring networks
Connect futures in the context of other
intentional mentoring efforts.
▸ Peer Mentoring
▸ Learning Community Programs
▸ Peer Coaches
▸ Peer Advisors

▸ Undergraduate mentored research experiences

▸ Career networking opportunities and job shadowing

▸ You have to teach youth to fish but you also have to stock
the pond.
Questions?