Lauren Boswell '06 Awarded UVA Grant
The Jefferson Public Citizens Program at the University of Virginia has awarded a grant to 2006 Collegiate graduate Lauren Ashley Boswell and five colleagues to develop and implement a mentoring plan at Charlottesville High School.
The goal of their project, which will be called “Sister-to-Sister,” is to ease the transition from middle school to high school for 9th grade girls, decrease dropout rates, and ensure that lessons learned play out in the mentees’ lives after the 2009-2010 school year ends.
The goal of their project, which will be called “Sister-to-Sister,” is to ease the transition from middle school to high school for 9th grade girls, decrease dropout rates, and ensure that lessons learned play out in the mentees’ lives after the 2009-2010 school year ends.
This summer, Boswell and her team are developing curriculum by
researching similar programs around the country and tailoring the Young
Women Leaders’ program already in place at UVA to the specific needs of
freshman girls.
Once the term begins in August, they envision two mentoring sessions per week.
As the program progresses, they will utilize surveys and work groups to evaluate its success both in the short and long term.
They will publish their findings in the spring.
“Since my days at Collegiate, I have always been interested in mentoring young girls,” said Boswell, an urban and environmental planning and African-American studies major.
“As I moved onto college, I continued this passion through the Young Women's Leaders Program. However, what struck me as problematic in mentoring at both Collegiate and UVA is that most community services groups are mostly white students entering communities where cultural understanding and competency are extremely important.
“With the Sister-to-Sister program, we hope to create a curriculum that will not only make mentoring young girls in urban and inner city environments more effective, but have the issues we deal with and programs we create intersect with their everyday lives in high school.
“We hope to create lesson plans that allow the mentors to understand the young girls’ perspective and increase relatability between the mentors and the young women.
The Jefferson Public Citizens Program is “an intentional effort to connect public service to academics and to prepare students for life after college,” said vice-provost for academic affairs J. Milton Adams in a statement released by UVA.
“It’s all about college students learning and developing as people – not only intellectually, but personally, morally and ethically.”
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Once the term begins in August, they envision two mentoring sessions per week.
As the program progresses, they will utilize surveys and work groups to evaluate its success both in the short and long term.
They will publish their findings in the spring.
“Since my days at Collegiate, I have always been interested in mentoring young girls,” said Boswell, an urban and environmental planning and African-American studies major.
“As I moved onto college, I continued this passion through the Young Women's Leaders Program. However, what struck me as problematic in mentoring at both Collegiate and UVA is that most community services groups are mostly white students entering communities where cultural understanding and competency are extremely important.
“With the Sister-to-Sister program, we hope to create a curriculum that will not only make mentoring young girls in urban and inner city environments more effective, but have the issues we deal with and programs we create intersect with their everyday lives in high school.
“We hope to create lesson plans that allow the mentors to understand the young girls’ perspective and increase relatability between the mentors and the young women.
The Jefferson Public Citizens Program is “an intentional effort to connect public service to academics and to prepare students for life after college,” said vice-provost for academic affairs J. Milton Adams in a statement released by UVA.
“It’s all about college students learning and developing as people – not only intellectually, but personally, morally and ethically.”
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