SHU's Mentorship Program Receives $45K From Fund

FAIRFIELD, Conn.—Sacred Heart University’s Academic Mentoring Program (AMP) has received a $45,000 grant from the Marie and John Zimmermann Fund, Inc., to support its work with students at Bridgeport’s John Winthrop Elementary School.

Through AMP, mentors from Sacred Heart pair with Winthrop students at the start of sixth grade and stay with them until they graduate from eighth grade. The mentors tutor the students and help with homework, but also show them what higher education would look like. The 2:1 student-to-mentor ratio helps encourage youngsters to focus on completing high school and eventually college, improving their skills in areas like reading and mathematics and building self-confidence and positive social values.

“The funds we receive are used to hire and train college mentors, who are committed to supporting their mentees academically and socially. They are also used to provide the mentees with enrichment activities and field trips. After an hour of tutoring, the mentors and mentees all participate in extracurricular enrichment activities, including art or STEM projects. These activities also help promote life skills like team building and communication,” says Annie Wendel, assistant director of Volunteer Programs and Service Learning, the office that oversees AMP.

The mentors typically are interested in teaching careers.Their work with youngsters includes, but is not limited to, tutoring, monitoring the academic success of their mentees and attending training sessions on tutoring and mentoring skills. They are compensated for the hours they spend with their students and in training sessions, which also is paid by the Zimmermann Fund.

For more information on AMP, visit http://www.sacredheart.edu/faithservice/volunteerprogramsservicelearning/volunteerprograms/mentoringprograms/academicmentoringprogram/

PHOTO CAPTION: Sacred Heart University student Ashley Soules, right, works with a John Winthrop Elementary School student as part of the University’s Jones-Zimmermann Academic Mentoring Program (AMP). Recently, the AMP program received a $45,000 grant from the Marie and John Zimmermann Fund, Inc., to support its work. Photo by Tracy Deer-Mirek

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About Sacred Heart University

Sacred Heart University, the second-largest independent Catholic university in New England, offers more than 70 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs on its main campus in Fairfield, Conn., and satellites in Connecticut, Luxembourg and Ireland. More than 8,500 students attend the University’s five colleges: Arts & Sciences; Health Professions; Nursing; the Jack Welch College of Business; and the Isabelle Farrington College of Education. The Princeton Review includes SHU in its guides, Best 382 Colleges–2018 Edition, “Best in the Northeast” and Best 267 Business Schools–2018 Edition. It also placed SHU on its lists for “Best College Theater” and “Most Engaged in Community Service,” each of which comprises only 20 U.S. schools. U.S.News & World Report ranks SHU in its Best Colleges 2018guidebook and calls SHU the fourth “Most Innovative School” in the North. The Chronicle of Higher Education also names SHU one of the fastest-growing Roman Catholic universities in its 2016 almanac. Sacred Heart fields 32 Division I athletic teams and has an award-winning program of community service. www.sacredheart.edu

For additional Sacred Heart University news, please visit http://www.sacredheart.edu/aboutshu/news/.

 
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Submitted by Fairfield, CT

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