Talk may be cheap, but mentoring programs are not. Luckily, the
LGBT Resource Center at the University of Southern California (USC) has
received a $1,000 grant for its peer mentoring program, which provides
LGBT students at USC with support throughout the school year.
The money—which comes from NASPA Region VI Research and Assessment—will
go toward assessing the program's effectiveness through student surveys.
"What we're trying to find out is whether or not the students progress
from when they first enter the program to when they exit it," said
Vincent Vigil, director of the LGBT Resource Center.
Students
who participate in the program first meet with their peer mentors in
October and set two or three goals for the school year. Unlike other
mentoring programs the center offers, this one is specifically geared
toward USC students.
"We have students on our own campus who
need assistance, whether it be coming out or transitioning from high
school to college—any concerns in their lives that they might need to
talk to someone about," Vigil said.
The mentoring program,
which used to be housed within Counseling Services, was taken over by
the LGBT Resource Center over 5 years ago. Since then, Vigil said, the
number of students involved has jumped from 10 to 60—30 student mentees
and 30 student mentors.
"We're hoping that this research will
help us get future grants or funding for the program, because it's going
to take off," he added.
Watch a video about the mentoring program and information about the grant here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=e0x9DZwH4Uc _____________
Source
Article
submitted by Kate Mather. Mather is an undergraduate student at the
University of Southern California (USC) majoring in Print and Digital
Journalism. She is from Glendale, CA, and currently serves as the editor
in chief for the
USC Daily Trojan newspaper. Karen was a previous intern for Pultizer Prize-winning
The Oregonian and the
Daily Breeze.
