WSSU mentoring partnership with local schools garnering successes

Winston-Salem State has been partnering successfully with schools in the community to mentor students K-12.

The schools include North Forsyth High School, Carver High, Atkins High, and Ashley Elementary.

Arthur Hardin, coordinator of Community Services, said that WSSU students mentored 43 potential high school dropouts in a graduation preparation program for the 2008-09 school year.  

Of the 43 at risk students, 42 graduated.

Programs such as these are not an isolated incident.  

According to Hardin, Black Men for Change,  has worked with Petree Elementary School for four years.  

Black Men for Change is a WSSU organization geared towards community service, cultural awareness and social networking for black males.

Some of the mentoring programs at WSSU are organized through career services; however, Hardin said not all mentor interaction is reported.  

"It's not about numbers," Hardin said.  "It's about impact."

Faculty in the school of education, and the department of behavioral sciences and social work  have implemented mentoring projects into their courses.

The program -- Graduate. It pays. -- provides a chance for professors, staff and other professionals  to mentor high school students who are on the verge of dropping out.   

 According to Hardin, out of 77 at-risk students mentored last year, 72 graduated.  

"The program is in need of caring adults," Hardin said.  

Dr. Beth Day-Hairston, professor in the school of education and human performances, mentored students as well as incorporated mentoring assignments in her curriculum.  

In a program known as Girl Talk, Hairston paired her students with fifth grade girls from Bolton Elementary School.  Her students tell the girls about the importance of education.

As a part of the program, Hairston's students gave the girls tours of the campus and dorm's.  

"It is important to start young," Hairston said.

"We want this [Girl Talk] to be sustainable."

Mentoring youth can also provide benefits to those at WSSU.  Hairston volunteered with ninth-graders and said her experience was "rewarding personally," and her students benefited as well.

"The community has really focused in on education," Hardin said.  

"There is a big need [for mentors] in the east Winston community."  

Dr. Manuel P. Vargas, professor and interim associate dean for the school of education and human performances, along with Dr. Dee Wylie, an educational consultant with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools started a program called Rites of Passage.  

The program was created as a service to public schools to guide students with discipline problems.

Surrounding communities view a HBCU as a source of role models.

 "As a HBCU we should help the community," said Hardin.

"It's important to remember where we come from, and reach back."