Downtown Express writes about our mentoring program
Click here to read the article.
Catherine and Maimouna
Maimouna and Catherine have been paired together since October. Maimouna is a freshman at Leadership and she has been incredibly involved in everything that we, as a school, have to offer. Catherine has been a mentor with SUMMA for quite some time. Catherine has been great in befriending Maimouna’s friends and acting as a “fill in” mentor when their mentors cannot make events, etc. As a freshman in this type of program, it can be difficult with all the late night (7pmish) events, however Maimouna completely has the support of her family, as they will come and pick her up if they deem it too late. Together, Maimouna and Catherine have attended 4 SUMMA group events and have met at least twice on their own. This is a great beginning to a relationship – as they’ve only been together for 4 months. In fact, Catherine’s holiday “gift” to Maimouna was taking her to the Metropolitan Opera to see Hansel and Gretel—they both immensely enjoyed the event.
Emily and Yazmin (This story was written by Emily!)
I am Yazmin Gonzalez’s mentor. Since I was unable to attend the holiday party with Yazmin, and we were unable to see each other over the holiday break, we scheduled a get together today to catch up on everything that has been going on since we last saw each other at the Parent’s Brunch on November 15. We met for brunch at Le Midi in the Union Square area (see pic). Aside from catching up on what’s going on with our family and friends, we spoke about Yazmin’s course work over the past semester. We also made plans to attend upcoming SUMMA events together and talked about our going to a museum this semester. Recently, Yazmin received an invitation to participate in the National Young Leaders Conference (NYLC) in Washington DC this summer. Since Yazmin attended this conference when she was in 7th grade, we discussed what the prospective benefits of attending again could be. I am doing additional research on the program and we’ll continue our discussions so that Yazmin can decide whether she should make the commitment to attend.
Christina and Yesenia
Christina has been a mentor for several years now and Yesenia is her second mentee. They recently went to a workshop at El Museo de Barrio in Spanish Harlem – in fact – they took the suggestion from the list the activity calendar sent out by Gianni. They went to the workshop that was in celebration of Carnavale. They did a mask-making arts workshop and took a Samba dance lesson. I think this event was great for celebrating culture and allowing Christina to get to know more about Yesenia’s roots. Also, as they were walking through the halls of the museum they saw college acceptance letters (the museum also doubles as a school). Looking at the acceptance letters they were able to start another conversation regarding the college application process. Christina mentioned that Yesenia started asking some good questions, for example, “do you only apply to one school?” Yesenia is a sophomore in high school, so questions like these are to be expected, and luckily she has Christina to help her get the right answers. I think given this event and the conversation that took place, they are well on their way to being successful and creating/achieving some wonderful goals.
Madelyn & Melissa’s Story, the winning video in a competition we held
SUMMA Mentors and Mentees Fall 2017
It was a busy fall semester for SUMMA mentors and mentees with activities all throughout NYC!
SUMMA Scavenger Hunt
- Gabrielle and Maureen set long term goals at a book store.
Justin and Tony at Time and The Conways
- Hanif and Andrew meet with photographers for a Black Suns project. Celebrating positive images of black men.
2018 SUMMA Mentors and Mentees – Eloina ’12 and Selena ’19
SUMMA pair Eloina ’12 and Selena ’19 had a busy fall semester discussing college preparation and resume writing tips. The pair have spent several hours each meet-up getting to know each other better and helping Selena look at colleges that meet her interests in the medical field. Mentor Eloina has the added benefit of being a 2012 graduate of the High School for Leadership and Public Service.
Serena ’19 and Eloina ’12 meet for the first time
Selena ’19 and Eloina ’12 meet to discuss college and future events