On May 2, in McGinley Hall on the Rose Hill campus, Mentoring Latinas graduated 30 middle school and high school girls from this year’s program.
Many families with younger siblings attended the graduation dinner, and each Mentor called up her mentee to receive her diploma and Club Amigas tee shirt. The 16 mentors are Latina Fordham college students and Graduate School of Social Service students.
The pictures show the close bond between the mentors and mentees and their strong feelings for each other. Not only do the mentees gain a sense of strong positive identification as Latinas, but the mentors grow in their own positive feelings of leadership and self-esteem for having given so much to their mentees.
In February, Mentoring Latinas celebrated our 15 year anniversary with a reception held in honor of AT&T, our major donor for the past 8 years. We also acknowledged Dean Maura Mast and the Fordham undergrad school that has contributed greatly to our program over the past 15 years.
We had one graduating senior this year, and she was accepted to Fordham (as well as Hunter and John Jay). We are very proud of her and hope next year there will be several more high school mentees accepted into colleges. Mentors encourage mentees to dream big, do well in school, and apply to college. The strong bond that develops between the mentors and mentees helps create a positive self-image and instills a sense of confidence that they can achieve success.
