Running head: REACH-OUT: MENTOR PROGRAM FOR FIRST GENERATION STUDENTS

REACH-OUT alumni-to-student mentor program

Mark Molinaro

Northern Arizona University

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REACH-OUT alumni-to-student mentor program

The creation and implementation of effective student service programs as well as the

review and continuous improvement of existing ones should be an ongoing process that includes

the input from faculty, staff, students, and external stakeholders. Community colleges and

universities alike offer access and support services based on the needs of prospective and

enrolled students. At-risk student populations including First Generation can experience feelings

of loneliness, isolation, and disorientation. For this proposal an alumni-to-student mentoring

program called REACH-OUT will address the need to better connect, inform, and guide students

who are the first in their family to attend institutes of higher education. Working off the research

from Jacobi (1991) and Crisp & Kruz (2009) mentor programs have gained popularity and clarity

over the last two decades and are an important part of student success. The purpose of this

program is to introduce, connect, and mentor freshman first generation students when they are in

the HA-100 Introduction to Hospitality course. Priest (2013), recommends that mentor programs

pair protégés and mentors with similar interests and background knowledge. Their study also

uncovered a desire by mentees to start early in the college career. Jacobi (1991), Crisp and Kruz

(2009), and Priest (2013) show that the dominant theme in mentoring as it relates to student

academic success points to three related components. REACH-OUT will lay its foundation on a)

developing a personal, shared relationship between the mentor and mentee, b) a common goal

tied to persistence and student success, and c) a process where the mentees growth can be

measured. Whitt (2007), points to partnership programs as one of the effective support systems

that facilitate acclimation and transition for college students. The REACH-OUT mentor program

for first generation students will provide instant access to experienced, non-academic graduates
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who will formally and informally guide and support them through this transition. A mentor

program for first generation students was chosen as a way to support and bolster student success

at Northern Arizona University’s School of Hotel and Restaurant Management for three main

reasons. First, the mentorship model, similar to the apprenticeship model, is currently used by

businesses in the hospitality field so getting our students familiar with this kind of relationship

will position them more comfortably in their careers. Second, several programs exist to get

students into college but getting them through the college experience is as important. According

to Spradlin (2009), several non-academic factors exist that influence student persistence

including financial, psychological, and institutional. A recent graduate of our program can

potentially impact a freshman student in all three of these areas. Advice from a mentor can lead

to saving money on unnecessary courses, can provide emotional encouragement from someone

who has already gone through the experience, and can strengthen the student’s connection with

the institution by increasing trust and confidence. Third, Whitt (2007) points out that

collaborative learning helps both parties develop problem solving skills and that comprehensive,

seamless learning environments that are built into the college experience aid in bridging the in-

and-out of class experience. For these reasons, providing mentoring to freshman students paired

with matched recent program graduates is proposed to increase student success and persistence.

This program is described as a mentoring program that freshman will be introduced to in

the HA-100 Introduction to Hospitality course. An assignment will be done in class and lead by

the faculty member walking the students through creating a LinkedIn profile along with the sites

purpose and functionality. Students will then be introduced to the NAU HRM REACH-OUT

Alumni-student mentor group on LinkedIn and oriented to its layout and design. Once familiar

with the page, students will select one of the recent alumni mentors in relation to their career
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aspirations and personal situations. Next the student will reach out to the alumni and initiate a

connection. Once the connection is made, the mentor will lead the process based on the training

they are provided. Alumni would serve for one to three years and potentially move on to other

areas depending on their desire and ability to influence positive change. Similar programs exist

at other universities. Coles (2010), documents the success that Joan Mazzotti experienced in the

Philadelphia Futures program that helps students with low socio-economic status (SES). The

comprehensive Sponsor-A-Student program offers long term one-on-one mentoring as well

funding for college expenses. Other colleges that include mentor programs include Washington

College, Paradise Valley Community College, and University of Maryland University College

(Wecker, 2016).

Clear and measurable program and learning outcomes are essential to the success of

REACH-OUT.

The program outcomes are to:

 Increase student persistence by 15% by 2019.

 Improve first generation student satisfaction by 20% by 2020.

 Increase curricular and co-curricular collaboration between students and alumni.

The student learning outcomes (SLO) for REACH-OUT are that students will:

 Develop helpful connections with their alumni mentors.

 Increase their sense of belonging to the school.

 Identify more clearly why their education is important and where it will take

them.

The assessment methods for this program include:

 Semester student surveys to gather qualitative data about the student experience.
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 Advisory board focus groups to solicit feedback and recommendations.

 Alumni mentor feedback sessions to gain insight and growth opportunities.

Funding for the pilot project is not required and will be done using existing resources and a re-

distribution of talent. Upon successful completion of the pilot program we will begin our

funding and resource work in two areas. Campus Compact (n.d.), offers seed grants through

their Campus Partners in Learning project that is funded by the Carnegie Corporation, John D.

and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Honeywell, as well as the Commission on National and

Community Service. This project has served over 25,000 at-risk youth through mentoring as

well as awarded over 100 grants to eligible programs. For the other funding source we will be

seeking in-kind contributions and endowments from corporate partners and established alumni to

maintain funds that will support the position titled mentor advisor. The research, existing mentor

program success and fit for formal mentor program in the hospitality industry is an important and

much needed support for at-risk student success.

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References

Spradlin, Terry E.|Burroughs, Nathan A.|Rutkowski, David J.|Lang, Justin R. (2009, November

30). College Persistence and Completion Strategies: Opportunities for Scaling up.

Education Policy Brief. Volume 8, Number 4, Fall 2010. Retrieved December 04, 2017,

from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED512639

Nesheim, B. E., Guentzel, M. J., Kellogg, A. H., McDonald, W. M., Wells, C. A., &

Whitt, E. J. (2007, August 06). Outcomes for Students of Student Affairs-Academic Affairs

Partnership Programs. Retrieved December 04, 2017, from

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/218938

Brody, A. A., Edelman, L., Siegel, E. O., Foster, V., Bailey, J. R., Bryant, A. L., & Bond, S. M.

(2016). Evaluation of a peer mentoring program for early career gerontological nursing

faculty and its potential for application to other fields in nursing and health sciences.

Retrieved December 04, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27156778

Priest, K. L. (2013, November 30). Developing Leadership for Life: Outcomes from a Collegiate

Student-Alumni Mentoring Program. Retrieved December 04, 2017, from

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1134841

Crisp, G. I. (2009, August 31). Mentoring College Students: A Critical Review of the Literature

between 1990 and 2007 Retrieved December 04, 2017,. from

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ844692

Jacobi, M. (1991). Mentoring and Undergraduate Academic Success: A Literature

Review. Review of Educational Research,61(4), 505-532. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1170575
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Wecker, M. (2016). The Real World of Mentoring Virtually. Retrieved December 09, 2017, from

http://www.umuc.edu/news/profiles/alumni-mentor-program.cfm#sthash.riy3vkdW.dpbs

Coles, A. (2010, November 30). The Role of Mentoring in College Access and Success.

Research to Practice Brief. Retrieved December 09, 2017, from

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED520415

Campus Compact. (n.d.). Best Practices in Campus-Based Mentoring. Retrieved December 11,

2017, from https://compact.org/resource-posts/mentoring/