February

In February, mentees from various organizations had the opportunity to attend The Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic at the Prudential Center. This event is a college basketball showcase that highlights Historic Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and was founded by Newark native Michael B. Jordan.

March

Director X paid mentees at Arts High School a visit to talk about meditation and his career as. an award winning videographer.

Newark School of Data Science and Information Technology students are leading, along with Central High School students, the creation of the first mentoring Youth Advisory Council. Within this council the student leaders are working on projects to help the problems they see within their school.

With the mentoring and guidance from the GEM Project student mentors and staff, the YAC created the guide for mentoring advisory councils. Due to the successful completion of the guide, the students are now learning facilitation, presentation and the art and science of communication to lead other NBOE schools with the creation of their own YAC. Using the knowledge from the GEM Project, they are putting together what those meetings will look like so the school can achieve the same goal they did.

The SHOP Mentoring Lab at Arts High School has officially launched. Thank you to all the mentees and leadership that contributed to this project from ideation all through execution!

We cannot do the best for our communities without taking care of ourselves. Councilman Dupré Kelly, Ty Daye, Coach Danie, and Principal Akbar Cook walked students at West Side High School through the actionable steps behind nebulous goal, “take care of yourself.”

April

Our spectacular corporate partners at Rao’s took West Side High School students on a hands-on journey through their culinary process. Students got a chance to create dishes, but also learn about a business’ framework, sustainability, and quality control. We’re always striving to create the most impact possible and using a fun program to translate skills to run a booming business did just that!

May

R.I.S.E. Mentoring Program’s successful year came to a ceremonial close. The unwavering partnership between University High School mentees and Montclair State University mentors showed through smiles, speeches, and proud tears.

June

Vonda’s Kitchen hosted a table of dreaming changemakers when 8th graders from Quitman Elementary School came in to discuss commencement and future plans.