Next fall, Western will offer a course that not only allows students to learn, but also offers them the chance to teach, by participating in a mentoring program with local fifth-graders.

Last August, the Higher Education Coordinating Board asked Cyndie Shepard, wife of Western’s President Bruce Shepard, to create a mentoring program based on one she had started seven years ago in Green Bay, Wisc.  Shepard said she was thrilled with the request and began working immediately to implement a pilot program for fall 2009.

Shepard started the Phuture Phoenix program at University of Wisconsin – Green Bay after hearing a fifth-grade boy say he expected to end up in prison like his father when he grew up.

“When he said that, my heart broke,” Shepard said.

At that moment, Shepard said she decided to spearhead a program that would encourage at-risk children to start thinking about college and provide positive role models.

Western’s course, which has yet to be named, will provide students with the opportunity to help Shepard achieve these goals in Whatcom County, as she did in Green Bay.  In early April, Shepard talked with the superintendents of 10 school districts that have agreed to participate.

The course, which is available to anyone, will include three weeks of training with Shepard on how to interact and appropriately connect with elementary students.  Then, Western students will be paired up, and each pair will be given five fifth graders to mentor.   After meeting their mentors, the fifth-graders will have a chance to tour Western’s campus.  After the tour day, Western students will continually visit the elementary schools to mentor the fifth-graders in academics or to counsel them in their daily lives for the rest of the quarter.

The program, which will cost around $14,000, will be funded through donations, Shepard said.  The majority of the money goes toward T-shirts, lunches and goody bags for the tour day at Western.

“We’re going to ask a lot of people for a small amount, rather than a few people for a large amount,” Shepard said.

She said that will keep the university and community from feeling any further economic strain, and it allows more people to be a part of the program.

For the first year, only one elementary school’s fifth grade class will be involved to test out the program.  Shepard said she then intends for the program to expand to more schools.  The program will also follow the original fifth-grade students through the rest of their primary and secondary education.

The program starts with fifth-graders in order to allow them time to start thinking about college and make necessary changes in their behavior, so they will be eligible for college when they finish high school, Shepard said.

Chris Ohana, Western elementary education professor, said talking to children about college before age 10 is imperative if the children are to consider the idea later in life.

“Research shows that if they don’t start thinking about it then, they don’t start thinking about it,” Ohana said.

Phuture Phoenix Associate Director Stephanie Pabich said she has seen this change occur with the Green Bay students.

“I see them talking more about their futures than they ever have before,” Pabich said.

Although the full effects of the Phuture Phoenix program cannot be measured because the first group of students is only in their junior year of high school, Shepard said the students’ GPAs have increased and truancies have decreased.

However, Shepard said the program is not solely intended to help elementary students.

“I think that for a lot of our students it might be eye-opening to see through a different set of eyes,” Ohana said.

Western junior Sarah Temple said she mentored two younger girls during high school and agreed that the experience was worthwhile.

“Everyone can take something from that experience,” Temple said.  “It solidified my desire to be a teacher.”

Shepard emphasized her desire for college students to be a part of developing the program for Western. She said the program will need 200 to 300 students for fall quarter alone.

Once the program fully develops, donations will be put toward scholarships as well.

Shepard acknowledged that with the economic crisis and a potential 30 percent tuition increase at Washington universities, affording college is becoming more difficult, especially for low-income families.

Scholarship money will be available when the original class involved with the program reaches their college years to further encourage attendance to a university.

Shepard said the class will be available in four sections during fall quarter.  It will be offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., and Tuesday and Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. or 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Students will be able to sign up for the course during the registration for fall quarter.

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