Students Provide Mentorship to Youth in Long-Running Program
Middle school students meet face-to-face with SHU mentors who provide support, guidance
For more than two decades, Sacred Heart University students have mentored middle school students from Bridgeport’s John Winthrop School as part of SHU’s Jones-Zimmermann Academic Mentoring Program (AMP). This after-school program was established in 2001 and encourages sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students to maintain academic success with their mentors’ encouragement and support.
The John Winthrop students are accepted into AMP as sixth graders and participate in the program until they graduate from eighth grade. Funded by the Jones-Zimmermann Foundation, the program provides youth with the resources they need to complete high school with a strong academic base.
This year, 19 SHU students spend four days a week working with 31 middle schoolers after school. The middle school students are not only getting help with homework and an older friend to confide in, but they are also exposed to college and the possibilities that come with pursuing higher education.
Mahailia Tulloch is the AMP coordinator this year. The 23-year-old Stratford resident said that both mentees and mentors are pleased to see each other in person this year, as the program ran virtually last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The SHU mentors are making a difference in the middle schoolers’ lives by encouraging the students and telling them they are capable of anything they put their minds to,” said Tulloch, a graduate student studying finance and investment management. “Sometimes the kids get discouraged when they don’t understand a homework problem, but the mentors are patient and work with them until they figure it out.”
Senior Victoria Acca, 21, of Rocky Hill, got involved with AMP her freshman year and enjoys tutoring students. The health science major had not seen her mentees in person for more than a year. When they reunited this year, the students were taller than Acca, a fact they laughed about together.
“Seeing the progress my mentees made in their self-confidence from one year to the next was really cool,” Acca said. “It is also super rewarding to be able to sit with them two days a week and work on things that may be difficult for them and then see how the next time they do it, it's not as hard.”
Acca continues to learn from her time in AMP. “I’m able to create relationships with students, be a friend to them, help them get their grades up and give them tools they can use in high school.”
Some of the middle schoolers just want someone to talk to about their day, Acca added, and she is there to do just that.
The middle school students appreciate and welcome the homework and academic advising from the college students and enjoy the field trips and enrichment speakers. The group visited the Xtreme Play Adrenaline Park (an amusement park), Rockin’ Jump (a trampoline park) and a corn maze at nearby Plasko’s Farms in Trumbull this year. They also heard from members of the SHU’s football, soccer and basketball teams, who provided motivational and inspiring words of wisdom. They even participated in a soccer clinic with the student-athletes.
Plans are in place for an end-of-the-year celebration for everyone involved in the program. The graduating eighth graders get special attention and will enjoy a send-off dinner and a trip to Six Flags New England, an amusement park in Agawam, MA.
To learn more, visit the AMP webpage.