January is National Mentoring Month!

National Mentoring Month is held each January to promote youth mentoring in the United States. It was inaugurated in 2002 and was/is officially spearheaded by the Harvard School of Public Health, MENTOR, and the Corporation for National and Community Service. The importance of mentoring has caught on across the nation as well as here in the sunshine state and as a result there are several mentoring programs and opportunities near you! Here are some interesting findings about the benefits of Mentoring:

Students who meet regularly with their mentors are 52% less likely than their peers to skip a day of school and 37% less likely to skip a class. (Public/Private Ventures study of Big Brothers Big Sisters)
Young adults who face an opportunity gap but have a mentor are 55% more likely to be enrolled in college than those who did not have a mentor.
46% less likely than their peers to start using illegal drugs and 27% less likely to start drinking. (Public/Private Ventures study of Big Brothers Big Sisters
Young adults who face an opportunity gap but have a mentor are: 81% more likely to participate regularly in sports or extracurricular activities than those who do not. (The Mentoring Effect, 2014)

The importance of mentoring is a common thread at the Florida Consortium. The Florida Consortium’s very own Dr. Ginny Botts has worked with Support our Scholars for several years. This central Florida based organization selects young women at the top of their high school graduating class and mentors them throughout their four years of college and beyond. Additionally, LaToya Hodge, is a certified mentor with the Mentoring Standard and has served as a mentor through national organizations including Step Up ,TechWomen, the Jobs Partnership Orlando and currently serving as the regional advocate for Technovation.

Here are a snapshot of resources at Florida Consortium member institutions:

Florida International University

Peer Mentor Program

College of Business Mentor Program

Careers in Medicine – Mentoring Program

University of Central Florida

GEMS (Girls EXCELing in Math and Science)

Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Mentoring at UCF

Career Advancement Mentoring Program for Young Entrepreneurs and Scholars (CAMP-YES)

University of South Florida

Corporate Mentor Program

USF Health Mentorship