Elon’s chapter of Enactus, an international nonprofit organization focused on improving people’s quality of life through entrepreneurial action, is partnering with Burlington’s Cummings High School to create a mentoring program.
This program will match students based on class year to create a “big brother/sister” relationship between Elon students and the high school students.
Starting this spring semester, Elon student mentors will help provide the students at Cummings High School with the tools and skills they need to not only succeed in high school, but also in college and beyond. The mentors will also work to instill confidence in the students to reach set goals.
“One of the goals with Enactus is to make a change in our community,” Next Generation Student Coordinator Ashley Rotholz ’14
said. She explained that this program is focused on student based goals and to ultimately help the students graduate high school and said the program will take baby steps and hopefully create a domino effect of accomplishments. “If you can do something small, what’s something else you can accomplish?” Rotholz said.
Enactus Member Anthony Lantigua ’13, initially reached out to Cummings High School, who was open to the Elon mentorship program. “We’re really now starting the project, laying the foundation and getting the ball rolling,” Rotholz said. She is working closely with project manager Jeff Zeiminski ’16 to kick off Next Generation.
To help the Cummings High School students get on the track to reach their goals, Elon mentors will initially meet with them one on one, text, talk over the phone or even Skype. In the beginning, the student and mentor will look at current the student’s current GPA and grades and analyze the student’s current study habits to see what can be improved.
Rotholz noted how Elon students are extremely involved in the University. “We’ve learned time management, how to comprehend different classes, and have learned different ways to study. We understand a lot of it is going to be trial and error, but everyone has goals and everyone should be able to walk across the stage at graduation.”
If the launch of Next Generation is successful and the students’ skills have improved with the help of the Elon mentors, Rotholz said they plan to continue the program next year and possibly branch out to other local high schools.
For more information contact Ashley Rotholz at arotholz@elon.edu.