Program Overview

PURPOSE

Bearcats Academy aims to support students' pathway to college by infusing multiple opportunities to create a supportive community, practice scholarly work, and to experience new and exciting college programs and career paths.

Developing Young Scholars

Program Summary: Bearcats Academy (BA) is a multi-year mentoring program aimed to support students in becoming competitive college applicants. BA provides opportunities for high school students to have college experiences, engage with research, and interact with various careers and college disciplines. BA supports college skills sets, navigation of the college path and financial education. With near-peer mentors, college-bound scholars will work towards achieving their academic goals, expanding their network and community, and increasing their understanding of college and career opportunities.

Partner Sites: BA currently serves students from three CPS high schools -- Aiken, Hughes, and Taft -- by pairing students in our school communities with undergraduate mentors. Working together, mentors share skills, behaviors, and attitudes, as well as experiences that are important to developing young scholars.

Program Structure: The multi-year structure allows for a community of support to be fostered and expanded through repeated and deeper connections with the intent to expand our reach to more school communities and students in future years.

Mentorship: Mentoring is a foundational piece of Bearcats Academy. Near-peer mentors have walked through many of the same trials and tribulations, which the mentees have gone through, or will go through, in their pursuit of college.

Mentors make a weekly commitment to developing a relationship with their mentee that will impact their academic success and life goals. Sharing weekly and quarterly experiences on and off-campus that are rooted in college readiness and preparation gives mentors satisfaction and mentees a needed advantage in navigating post-secondary opportunities.

Overarching Goals & the Future of BA: Overall, the Bearcats Academy program supports a robust pathway of scholarship from early high school to college-entry by providing motivational mentors, academic planning, scholarly and social experiences, and financial awareness to cohorts of motivated students.

The ultimate aim is to help shape the next generation of college-bound scholars and increase their comfortability in a college environment before day one of their own college enrollment, so they may contribute to their academic field, impact their community in innovative ways, and accomplish goals of which they have dreamt.

Community

Bearcats Academy aims to create cohorts of support for high school and undergraduate students by fostering a community of scholars through mentoring sessions and college engagements that focus on academic motivation and skills and scholarly and social experiences.

Hosting quarterly events, many on UC's campus, allows high school students to see themselves as a part of the fabric of the UC community and network before they even enroll.

It also allows mentors to showcase their campus and the programs that make it their academic home.

Scholarship

Bearcats Academy wants to develop students with repeated scholarly experiences.

From learning foundational skills that help form research questions to presenting findings at research conferences, high school students will be mentored by near-peers through research activities, so they may contribute to their community and academic discipline as scholars even before they enter college.

Opportunity

Bearcats Academy offers four years of access to different colleges, programs, and majors through quarterly events that expand the future career and academic outlooks of high school students.

UC Mentors are also pivotal in sharing what opportunities can be found at the university that align with our students' interests, goals, and passions.

With repeated opportunities, high school students will be more comfortable with the path they choose at college-entry, and on their way to the degree of their dreams!

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