Mentor Program
“A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.”
-Unknown
The Olney Education Foundation is so excited to partner with OHS and the Olney community in a new mentor program! The high school and community have done a wonderful job promoting and supporting our seniors toward post-secondary education through campus visits, counseling, local scholarships, and supporting the Foundation’s goals. However, we noticed that after graduation and the school doors closed for the summer, some graduates who had the desire to attend a four-year university or obtain their vocational certificate or associate degree failed to enroll for the fall semester due to one or more challenges — orientation, registration, additional financial aid applications, transportation, and move-in requirements.
Because some students are the first in their family to attend college, the paperwork requirements alone can be overwhelming! Through the Foundation’s new program, mentors are able to help OHS seniors meet deadlines, stay on task, and overcome many other hurdles that come with post-secondary education. The partnership with high school in this endeavor only enhances our mission statement and listed goals. Our mentoring program is just another key that can open BIG doors!
Excerpts from Student Applications
I have worked my hardest and pushed myself to my limits to achieve academic success as well as helping my mother raise my two sisters. I want to show everyone that no matter how your life starts out you can be successful. My goal is to be the first one to complete college in my family, and I will do it.
We didn’t have a lot of money growing up and my mom struggled to keep food in the house. College was merely a dream because we thought we could never afford it and now that I have been accepted to one, it feels so unreal.
I want to have opportunities in life and not just be stuck with what I have to do to get by. …I saw how much my mother struggled and worked four jobs just to make it by, and that is not what I want for me, my future husband, and future kids.
I just feel like I have worked so hard to be where I am and I want to become the man my mother said I would turn out to be. It’s crazy how teenagers these days don’t want to work hard for what they want but I am one person that is going to work as hard as I can to succeed in life.
