Faculty and staff who can spare a lunch hour may be able to change a local middle school student’s outlook on mentorship. 

The Near-Peer Mentoring Project is a new collaborative project between the Springfield School District, Lane Community College, the Rites of Passage program and the UO’s Summer Academy to Inspire Learning (SAIL) program. A kickoff event will be held Thursday, May 6, in the Ford Alumni Center Ballroom, and volunteers from the UO are needed.

The program is designed to help Springfield School District students with multicultural backgrounds in their transition to high school. UO college students will serve as mentor coordinators, but the event needs the help of UO faculty and staff to help emphasize the importance of mentoring.

At the kickoff event, UO volunteers will meet with groups of middle and high school students to discuss role modeling and the value of having a mentor. The 160 participating students will be broken up into small group sessions from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.; groups will rotate every 15 minutes so each guest meets each student group.

Prior to the small group discussions, students will spend the morning tackling the city of Eugene’s Spencer Butte Challenge Course. UO representatives are invited to an optional lunch from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

If interested, contact Lara Fernandez at laraf@uoregon.edu prior to the event.

– by Sarah MacKenzie, Public Affairs Communications intern