An event to celebrate the first year of the Lead Mentoring Program that matches elementary students with college student mentors will be held Wednesday, May 4,from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in The University of Toledo’s Health Education Building on Health Science Campus.
In its inaugural year, the program run by the University Church at Reynolds Elementary School has matched more than 40 children with adult mentors, most of whom are medical students at The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences. Additional mentors include undergraduate students from UT and Lourdes University.
The celebration will honor the work and commitment of the mentees, mentors and community partners who have helped to make Lead Mentoring a success. The program is funded with a grant through the Ohio Department of Education’s Community Connectors and supported by a partnership with Ohio’s Medicaid Technical Assistance and Policy Program Healthcare Access Initiative at UT.
Throughout the program, students have met with their mentors for at least one hour per week to work on setting goals, instilling a sense of resilience, and promoting belief in a positive future.
During the past six months, nearly 700 hours of one-on-one mentoring have been logged with a strong focus on high school, college and career exploration.
In total, the fifth through eighth grade students in the program have participated in more than 2,500 hours of after-school programming.
