What is ESTRELLAS?
The Estrellas Peer Mentoring & Development Program, funded in part by Associated Colleges of Illinois, is a one-year program designed to assist incoming students with their transition to college. The goal of the Estrellas program is to provide students with a peer mentor who can assist participants with their integration into the Dominican community, develop personal, professional, and academic skills, and learn how to overcome barriers they may experience in their first year and beyond.
The Estrellas program follows an academic year program curriculum, which includes regularly scheduled 1-on-1 mentoring meetings between mentor and mentees, general monthly meetings, attending conferences, and participating in other educational and social activities both internal and external to Dominican. In addition, both mentors and mentees will have the opportunity to engage in professional development opportunities centered around leadership, relationship building, identity and career exploration, and more.
Student mentors draw from their own experience at Dominican University, as well as from their training, to inform and guide new Dominican students who are making the transition from high school to the diverse academic, intellectual, and social culture that they find within our institution. Mentors serve as key on-campus leaders and will have the opportunity to engage in various professional development and skill-building opportunities that will help them build their capacities as mentors, leaders, and change-makers.