UHV needs college students for paid mentors
College students will be paid to meet with Victoria-area high school students beginning Tuesday through the summer to provide tutoring as well as advice and guidance about college participation. The program is being coordinated through UHV's Letting Education Achieve Dreams program in partnership with the Latina Forum.
"Many of the high school kids we're targeting with this program have no family history when it comes to college," LEAD Director Danny Ochoa said. "Sitting down with someone close to their own age who is actually living the college experience really helps relieve any fears or concerns that could potentially knock these high school students off their path to college."
By acting as tutors, the college students also help the high school students overcome any educational challenges that might keep them from continuing on to college, he said.
UHV and VC students will be paid $10 an hour up to 20 hours a week thanks to a $25,000 grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board as part of its efforts to increase educational attainment levels in Texas.
Mentors will meet with high school students referred by school counselors in a "Go Center" area with computers and other materials.
The mentors, members of the "G-Force," will work one-on-one with students to tutor them in certain subjects and guide them through the process of selecting, applying to and ultimately attending college.
LEAD is an outreach program at UHV designed to help first-generation college students gain access to higher education. The program has a special focus on Hispanic students, who often have lower educational attainment rates, Ochoa said.
College students interested in working for the program should contact Carolin DeLaVega, LEAD high school program coordinator, at (361) 570-4147 or delavegac@uhv.edu.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
