What iMentor Does at University Heights High School

iMentor helps young people from under-served communities develop skills and opportunities by connecting them to personal and professional networks through the Internet. At University Heights High School, we have been working with iMentor representatives Amanda Kraus and Unique Fraser all year to explore student careers, learn to work collaboratively online, and produce these student websites.

They work with schools, after-school programs, community technology centers, and other youth development agencies that serve young people from low-income neighborhoods. Their partner youth agencies recruit young people to participate in the program, while iMentor recruits and screens the volunteers. Students and volunteers are matched one-on-one according to their shared career interests. iMentor designs projects that mentors and students work on together over email; or, if the partner organization has its own project-based curriculum, iMentor helps the agency to incorporate a role for volunteer mentors into their existing activities. IMentor then provides on-going training and support to mentors and partner youth agencies to help us implement the iMentor program on a day-to-day basis.

iMentor is built on five elements:

1. Mentoring Relationships� Connecting young people with adult mentors via the Internet and in-person meetings.

 
2. Project-based Curricula� Designing collaborative projects that promote career exploration and increase technological literacy.

 
3. Professional Development� Providing training and support for teachers and other youth workers to help them to teach technology effectively.

 
4. On-Line Community� Building a safe and unique on-line community that delivers real benefits to young people.

 
5. Tools for Local Programs� Advancing electronic mentoring efforts nationwide by offering resources and assistance to individuals and local agencies that would like help starting their own programs.