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Twelve ɫ����Ƶ students from six different programs are volunteering their time to mentor sophomores from Deering High School.

Students from both schools were recently paired up at a luncheon on the Portland Campus.

“I didn't have anyone to tell me what college would be like, what I could expect and how I should prepare for it,” says Brianna Gower (Pharmacy, ’22). “I wanted to be able to do that for someone else.”

Gower will help guide Lea Yere through the next few years of high school and provide advice as she plans her academic future.

Gower has already passed on some of what she learned during her final years of high school: “It's okay to change your mind and to make mistakes,” she says. “Do what you feel is best for you and your personality, not what other people tell you is the best route.”

Deering High School Principal Gregg Palmer says guidance counselors and older students at his school give advice, but the pointers are not the same as those given college students.

“We can have students talk to guidance counselors all day long, but it's not this experience-the experience of meeting with a student who's at ɫ����Ƶ pursuing their goals, hopes and dreams,” he explains.

Palmer says sophomores have a lot of questions about their future, and that can be a scary thing.

“You're trying to figure out who you are, and to have somebody at the next stage of their life providing advice and talking about opportunities is extremely valuable,” he says.

The students will spend one hour a week with each other over the next several months.

Trisha Mason, M.A., director of the WCHP Service Learning program, says she is very pleased with the number of ɫ����Ƶ students who came forward to take part in the program.

“I am still humbled by our ɫ����Ƶ students and how much they give,” she states. “Many of them have very rigorous academic programs and clinicals, as well as work outside of school, but they're always willing to dedicate themselves purely out of volunteerism to help others.”

Palmer says the fact that Deering High School is right down the street from ɫ����Ƶ makes the collaboration convenient. He also sees it as something that can motivate his students to pursue higher education.

“I think there's something powerful about that,” he says. “They are literally yards away, but what does it take to get there? So, when they drive and walk by ɫ����Ƶ, which they do every single day, they now have a connection in their brain to this university.”