Oak Foundation seeds innovative mentoring program at University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo
Contact:
Margot Schrire, 808-376-7818
AVP of Communications, UH Foundation
Posted: Feb 9, 2022

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo students collaborate on a project.
University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo students collaborate on a project.

Oak Foundation has seeded an innovative tiered mentoring program being developed at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo that will partner student peer mentors with faculty to grow and secure the pipeline to college for youth on Hawaiʻi Island.

The $500,000 grant was recently awarded by the Oak Foundation Fund at the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation to the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Center for Place-Based Socioemotional Development, also known as The Hilo Center. Oak Foundation, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, has invested in a number of other Hawaiʻi Island community programs, including the 13th year program at Hawaiʻi Community College’s Pālamanui Campus.

“Support for this new program demonstrates Oak Foundation’s commitment to the health and wellbeing of Hawaiʻi Island youth and a continued investment in higher education,” said UHH Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin. “We all benefit from strengthening the university’s connection to the community and from building the pipeline to college and helping students succeed.”

The tiered mentoring program is modeled on a number of successful student-led and partnership mentoring models, as well as previous research on student supports by Margary Martin, executive director of the Hilo Center and an associate professor in UH Hiloʻs School of Education, who will lead the mentoring program.

Martin said the Covid-19 pandemic has isolated students from their peers and professors and noted that even though classes are starting to resume in person, many students are choosing to stay online, which may have a direct impact on their college experiences, mental health, and success.

“That sense of belonging and relationships are two of the strongest predictors for persisting with college, and graduation rates,” she said. “Weʻre trying to create this whole pipeline of students, families, and local communities to create these supportive networks.”

One of the most important aspects of the new program is that it is student-led as opposed to faculty-led. It is designed to cultivate the leadership skills of both the mentors and the mentored. Students tended to seek different kinds of advice from their peers rather than from their faculty mentors, often reaching out more to their peer mentors much more than faculty, Martin said. The UH Hilo pilot program will pair students with peers and faculty members as mentors over a two-year period. In addition, they will participate in workshops of interest and ‘ohana events and complete a yearly community service project. After that, students who were mentored may become mentors themselves to the next cohort of mentees, Martin said.

Martin will be working this spring to recruit student and faculty mentors and start to build a network, and plans to launch the program next fall with 10 faculty mentors, 10 student mentors and 50 student mentees, to build a “scaffolding” upon which the program will grow and expand, Martin said.

Three student leaders have been chosen to co-construct the program and help recruit the student mentors for the paid positions, she said, and they will begin leadership development training this winter. The plan is to expand the program to high schools, where student mentors can help other students make the successful transition to college.

 

Oak Foundation commits its resources to address issues of global, social, and environmental concern, particularly those that have a major impact on the lives of the disadvantaged. Through our grant-making, we support others to make the world a safer, fairer, and more sustainable place to live. With offices in Europe, India, and North America, we make grants to organizations in approximately 40 countries worldwide. For more information visit oakfnd.org.

The University of Hawai‘i Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawai‘i System. The mission of the University of Hawai‘i Foundation is to unite donors’ passions with the University of Hawai‘i’s aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawai‘i and our future generations. Visit us at uhfoundation.org.