Minds Matter Denver Information Session for Prospective Mentors
Join us on August 17 for wine and cheese and to learn about opportunities to significantly change the life of a high-achieving, low-income high-school student.
The RMHUC and Minds Matter Denver are co-hosting an information session for Harvardians who may have an interest in being mentors or contributing in some other way to an intense mentoring program for highly-motivated, economically-disadvantaged high-school students.
This session is an element of a partnership between MMD and the RMHUC in the 2015-16 school year.
6:00 - wine / cheese / informal conversation
6:30 - Minds Matter presentation / discussion
Minds Matter of Denver is one of 12 National Minds Matter chapters across the country. It is a mentoring organization for low-income (qualifies for free or reduced lunches), high-achieving (3.5 GPA or higher) Denver Public School students. Students are mentored throughout their sophomore, junior, and senior years on Monday evenings from 6:00-8:30pm at West High School (951 Elati Street, a couple of blocks NW of W. 8th Avenue and Speer Boulevard). Mentoring sessions run during the school year, and there are 12 a semester, or 24 a year; the sessions observe all school holidays and breaks. Sophomores entering the program are assigned two dedicated mentors, who stay with that student for the three-year duration. New mentors must be identified in the summer so that it is known how many sophomores can be admitted to the program in the fall.
Minds Matter is fundamentally college preparatory mentoring, with focus on reading, writing, test taking, critical thinking, public speaking, etc. Minds Matter also is part of the application and scholarship process for the kids to go to college.
All Minds Matter students go to college-based summer programs for their post-sophomore and post-junior summers. They attend programs all over the U.S. to go to college classes. These programs are important for many reasons: they help the students learn how to acclimate to the college environment, they give them a try at a certain school and program, and of course these programs help the students enhance their college applications as seniors.
Minds Matter of Denver is 100% volunteer run. Since the chapter's inception in 2004, MMD students have had a 100% success rate of graduating high school on time, 100% sucess in getting into a 4-year university, and 100% of them have received college scholarships.
If you are interested in learning more before attending, here is a video interviewing mentees, parents, and volunteers about the program: Minds Matter Video.
Please register your intent to attend using the RSVP sidebar so that we can be sure to have adequate refreshments. (Please put your school and graduation year in the "Organization" field.) Note that the information session is at East 2nd Avenue and Milwaukee Street (NW corner; enter via the steps outside the building) in Cherry Creek North, not at West High School! Metered parking on surrounding streets ends at 7:00, or unmetered parking is available north of 3rd Avenue.
If you are interested in learning more about mentoring but are unable to come on the 17th, please drop us a note (again, please include school and year), and we'll figure out an alternative arrangement for you.