By Dosia Spaeth
Medical Center Public Relations
A unique mentoring program for high school students, now under way at the Medical Center, will focus on the “undiscovered, unprepared and/or unprotected” student.
“A number of internships and other special programs are available for the most gifted and talented students. We are targeting students who might not otherwise have an opportunity,” says Laurita Thomas, administrator of the Medical Campus Human Resources Department and program director. “We are looking for students who might not make it through high school without this program.”
The Youth Mentoring Program will pair 25 ninth-grade students entering Huron High School with mentors from the Medical Center. Seed money for the program is provided by the Commonwealth Fund of New York.
From an operational base in the Huron High Career Resource Center, the one-to-one mentoring experiences might include opportunities for students to “shadow” their mentors at work. Structured group events may involve visits to Medical Center laboratories, study skills workshops, participation in Medical Center events, and even opportunities for part-time or summer jobs.
“The program will allow these students to see meaning in why they’re going through school,” says Huron High Principal Joetta Mial. Innovative programs that focus on the “interdisciplinary world we live in” will be increasingly important in preparing students for life in the 21st century, she adds.
Plans to expand the scope of the program throughout the region should help draw students from Pioneer High School and schools in Ypsilanti and Willow Run.
An advisory committee of representatives of Huron High School, the Medical Center and the community is being formed to help establish the program. Student guidance counselors will help identify and recruit students for the program, which continues through high school graduation.
The mentors are not expected to be a “surrogate parent, a Santa Claus, a bank … or a miracle worker,” according to the program proposal. They will, however, help students solve problems and learn to take ownership of their own situations.
Mentors are asked to commit to one year with the project, with the option to continue on a year-to-year basis. Weekly contact with the student is expected, in person at least every other week.
Thomas says the mentorships “are open to all departments. These kids are not all going to be doctors and nurses. They need exposure to the wide range of opportunities within health care.”
Similar programs to help students “graduate and prepare to enter the workforce or to continue their education” have been aided by The Commonwealth Fund at 13 other major medical facilities across the nation. A program headquarters has been established at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
