Reach Out! creates a mentoring family

School of Education student Shara Cherniak takes a hip-hop dance class weekly. She doesn't take it for school credit or as part of a fitness routine. Cherniak dances because she's dedicated to mentoring a middle-school student, and this is one way to get to know her better.

U-M mentors, Reach Out! students and family members pose for a photo at the Daimler Chrysler Proving Grounds in Chelsea. The group visited the Crash Impact Lab and the oval test track, and met with technicians, mechanics and drivers to learn more about training and career opportunities in the automotive industry. (Photo by Michael Leach)

Cherniak participates and helps coordinate the Reach Out! (RO) program, which began in 1995 when the College of Engineering received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to promote math and science literacy, and career exploration. The grant ended in 2002 and the program moved off-campus, but many U-M students remain involved in the effort.

Currently, more than 100 mentors volunteer their time, meeting with students from Scarlett Middle School in Ann Arbor one or two times a week. All mentors must agree to at least a yearlong relationship with children in the classroom. Mentors also get together with students outside of school time.

"Reach Out! has a special culture and climate in which everyone feels comfortable—as if we are one big family," Cherniak says. "These University students and community members will form authentic long-term relationships with any child who wants a mentor."

Mentors spend much of their time with the students focusing on schoolwork, Cherniak says. Academics not only encompasses homework but also includes study/test-taking skills, reading and comprehension strategies, writing effective papers, science fair projects, and basic math skills. Students also explore career interests, post-high school training and education options.

Mentors Sandra Haber and Katie Johnson see their 7th grade students twice a week and also maintain strong relationships outside of the classroom, including dinners at the students' homes, and trips to the Nichols Arboretum, Ann Arbor Hands-on-Museum, Borders, Starbucks, and nights out to the movies.

Haber, an LSA junior, has been with her student, Megan, since last year, and says, "I believe you can measure our success each and every day on the faces of those who know us."

One inspiring moment occurred recently when Haber says Megan begged her mentor to do math equations. "I thought, 'Wow, she really loves math. This is amazing!' I personally hated math at her age, so to see her change in this manner makes me glow," Haber says.

LSA sophomore Johnson often takes her 7th grader, Nia, to events on campus like those featured on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Johnson says she hopes that mentoring middle-school children will help them to mature and instill in them a desire to finish high school and go to college.

"I think one of the special things about Reach Out! is the community that the program has created," Johnson says. "It has brought together two groups—University students and middle school Ann Arborites—that otherwise would not interact together. Reach Out is a supportive and loving community that fosters growth and development between two groups that are at very different places in their lives."

Monthly activities are planned for mentors, students and families to develop bonds outside of the classroom. Activities have included a Thanksgiving potluck and a winter gala celebration. In January, participants traveled to the Daimler Chrysler Proving Grounds in Chelseato experience a variety of occupations and to take a ride on the test track.

"In middle through high school, we recognize one-on-one academic and 'whole person' mentoring is mandatory," Program Director Jeannine LaSovage says. LaSovage started with RO at the University but when the NSF grant ended in 2002, leaving RO without a home at U-M, students helped form a non-profit organization under LaSovage's direction.

"To be honest, I thought I would go forward with my career and leave it," LaSovage says. "Then we had 75 U-M students that wouldn't stop and I continued to do training for them."

LaSovage currently works at Scarlett Middle School, where she helps mentors and students with difficult decisions, such as how to help with problems at home and how to open mentors' eyes to the different learning styles. She also helps mentors make proper lifestyle choices in order to be genuine role models for their children and to help them make changes in their lives.

The relationship with Scarlett Middle School was fostered after RO lost its NSF grant, leaving hands-on science and math equipment and learning materials, as well as mentors, in need of a new home. George Forerno, assistant superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools at the time, set up a partnership with Scarlett, the poorest performing middle school in the district.

Mentors come from sororities, fraternities, the School of Education, pre-medicine, business and many other disciplines, LaSovage says. "U-M students are movers and shakers," she says. "At U-M, we need to find a team to get behind them."