Be a mentor to CMC students

Program benefits volunteers as well as students

By Mike McKibbin
Colorado Mountain College contributor

SUMMIT COUNTY — Colorado Mountain College wants interested Summit County community members to become volunteer Mountain Scholars mentors to students.

The program matches qualified mentors one-on-one with students — called mentees — to provide academic, personal and professional support, encouragement and growth.

Currently, there are more Mountain Scholars students than there are mentors. Students are waiting to be matched with adult mentors for the upcoming fall semester.

"Mentors build relationships and are a support network for students to process experiences to become resilient and persistent learners and young adults," states the program webpage.

Mentors must have at least a bachelor’s degree and agree to be a mentor for at least one year, ideally through the student’s graduation. They also must commit to meeting monthly with assigned mentees.

‘A little boosting’

Barbara Payne is a retired teacher and has been a mentor since 2013.

"I wanted to have a different schedule than I did as a teacher but I still wanted to make a difference," she said.

The most rewarding part of the program is "seeing students figure out they can do college and all they needed was a little boosting," Payne stated.

Payne advises that individuals who are considering being a mentor to be flexible, "and realize your own college experience was probably nothing like what these students in the Mountain Scholars program are going through. That's why you have to be flexible," she said.

Estefania Alvarez was one of Payne’s mentees. Alvarez participated in the Mountain Scholars program and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in sustainability in May.

"It was kind of my strength to stay on track to graduate," Alvarez said.

"My mentor helped me fill out forms for financial aid and texted me to keep in touch, find out what I needed, what kind of events were going on and we went on hikes," she recalled. "It was all very beneficial."

The program also helped Alvarez obtain money to buy the books she needed for classes, she added.

"It's been a blessing," she said. "I didn't have as much pressure to do everything myself. It was a wonderful opportunity."

‘Being available to students’

Bonnie Ward had a 40-year career in education in Maryland as a high school math and computer science teacher and later, as a school superintendent, also acting as a mentor to high school students during much of that time.

When Ward moved to Summit County, she continued mentoring high school students locally. Later, in 2014, she joined CMC’s Mountain Scholars program when one of her Summit County high school students graduated and decided to attend CMC.

"It turned out CMC had just started (Mountain Scholars) so I became involved and mentored him," Ward said, who typically mentors several mentees at the same time.

The most rewarding part of mentoring is "being available to students," she said. "They're very busy with classes and a lot of other things so it's rewarding when I get to help them with something," Ward added.

Now, Ward's duties as a mentor take between one to two hours a month per mentee, she said.

"Sometimes it's about how the real world works," Ward noted. "Like when there's a meeting that might help them start a career and how to follow up with written thank-you notes. It's a wonderful opportunity to help first-generation students. And it's all very doable because it's one-on-one. It's almost a lifesaver for some of these students when they get the help they need."

County residents interested in becoming a mentor can contact Mountain Scholars program coordinator Andrea Walker or 970-989-1304.