Mentors

A Mentor's Role

A mentor can provide extra one-on-one support to participating students. They are usually tasked with working with an entire group of students (class, teacher, or school) and can help with:

• Brainstorming and selecting topics

• Finding or deciphering research resources

• Proofreading 

• Advising on technical aspects of project creation

A mentor is NOT an extra resource given to students to help them "win" in the competition. A mentor should be able to work with all students who want/need their help, not just those students with "high potential." A mentor should also not be tasked with presenting formal instruction to classes on behalf of your program.

Formal vs. Informal Mentoring

Mentoring can happen formally or informally. Informally, a mentor may be a retired teacher or community member interested in working with a school to stay engaged in the program. They may ask you what participating schools are in the area and connect directly with that teacher to begin volunteering. A formal mentoring program involves recruiting, selecting, training, and placing mentors in schools. In a formal program, you have more control and responsibilities to manage the mentor(s).

Who mentors?

Within a formal mentoring program, your best bet is to work with undergraduates or graduate students who can mentor as part of their coursework.

Informal mentors may come from various areas in your community, including retirees, your institution's volunteer pool, or other community groups. If you are near a college or university, you could consider undergraduates or graduate students. Many universities have established service-learning programs looking for ways to connect undergraduates to the community. Within a school district, teachers could set up a system by which older students mentor younger students. 

Regardless of how you get them, the prospective mentors must be screened and background checked. If you manage the mentors, your institution will likely want to perform the background check, but be aware that individual school districts may have their own screening or background check process. 

Training Mentors

In a formal mentor program, you will be responsible for interviewing, training, and checking in on mentors to ensure quality control. Consider having them attend one of your teacher workshops to learn the basics of the program or offer a special session that covers their role in detail.

How much does this cost?

It is virtually impossible to provide a mentor for every single kid doing NHD in your state or territory. You can offer a mentor for schools with students who may not achieve their academic potential with NHD without extra assistance. You can build this, starting with just one or two mentors in one school and growing from there. 

• Background Check: Varies, usually about $25 each

• Stipend: Consider that undergraduate mentors, especially, may need to forgo a paid job to mentor and compensate them accordingly

• Transportation: Consider how far the mentor will need to travel to work with the school. Can they take public transportation or provide it themselves? Even a small stipend will show mentors that you recognize this cost

Is it worth the work?

All of this requires time, and it likely requires money as well. With good evaluation, a successful mentoring program can open doors to new funders looking for innovative approaches to bridge achievement gaps and create pathways to higher education for underserved students. And that doesn't include the benefits for your teachers and students!

An example of an effective mentorship program exists in Minnesota. With a budget of $125,000, Minnesota History Day annually recruits, selects, trains, and places an average of 75 undergraduate students within roughly 50 schools. The mentors undergo several rounds of training in NHD basics, principles of mentoring students, and research. Although operating at a large scale now, the MN mentoring program began as a pilot project with $500 and a single undergraduate NHD alum. Individual donors, foundations, university administrators, and school systems have consistently funded the program because of its documented impact on (mostly BIPOC and urban) students and the unique pre-professional training it provides undergraduate mentors.

Sample Materials from Minnesota History Day's Mentor Program

• Teacher-Mentor Success Criteria

• Sample Training Session (from 2019)

• Sample Application for Selecting Mentors