Mentoring
Mentors can impact students’ lives and the future of our community.
Every student matters.
Mentoring makes all the difference for our students’ success.
Many of our students are without positive role models to help guide them through the challenges in school and in life. Their environment may lack emotional or educational support. For some students, they are the first in their family to go college or even graduate high school. Mentors provide a much-needed source of motivation and accountability for students who may see a college education as a distant goal.
Click here to see where we have the highest need for mentors.
Your Support
MAKES A DIFFERENCE
What It means to be a mentor
A Hillsborough Education Foundation mentor serves as a trustworthy role model who provides guidance and emotional support in a student’s life, while fostering goal setting for successful outcomes in school and beyond.
A mentor is a caring, committed adult who can give the greatest gift—a few hours each month—and share life experiences with a student in our mentoring program.
Studies show that students with a mentor are:
- 55% more likely to be enrolled in college than students who face an opportunity gap but did not have a mentor.
- 52% less likely than their peers to skip a day of school and 37 percent less likely to skip a class.
- 81% more likely to participate regularly in sports or extracurricular activities than peers who do not have a mentor.
- 46% less likely than their peers to start using illegal drugs and 27% less likely to start drinking.
OUR PROMISE AND MULTI-YEAR COMMITMENT TO OUR STUDENTS
Hillsborough Education Foundation’s Take Stock in Children program provides a mentor devoted to supporting a student’s academic and future success, continuous involvement from skilled student advocates who engage in educational and career counseling and the opportunity for a college scholarship. Because we work in partnership with our school district, we are able to deliver a personal program tailored to students who aspire to create a better life for themselves and their families.
HEF provides financial and academic assistance, motivation and support for students to reach their goals. Not only is our mentoring program innovative and transformative, it is rigorous as well.
We want to see our students succeed, which means we have high expectations and demand accountability among all participants. Students, along with their parents/guardians, sign a contract agreeing to maintain good grades, exhibit good behavior, remain crime and drug free and meet with their mentors once a week.
HEF commits to provide qualifying students:
- A dedicated, volunteer mentor
- A Florida Prepaid Scholarship upon high school graduation
- An assigned College Success Coach to provide additional academic support
- College readiness workshops & activities
- Access to school supplies and other resources
100 percent of seniors in our mentoring program graduated from high school in 2022.
TAKE STOCK IN CHILDREN IS MORE THAN A MENTORING PROGRAM
While Take Stock in Children’s in-school volunteer mentoring model plays a vital role in student success, it is the combination of the mentor, college readiness and the promise of a college scholarship that provides our students and families with hope for a brighter future and the means to help break the cycle of poverty.
Interested in being a Mentor?
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Ready to take action?
Mentor a Student
We aspire to provide high-quality mentors who can serve as role models to our scholars. It only takes 30 minutes a week to help change a student’s life.
