Calvin Gets Grant to Address Soph Slump

February 27 , 2007 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Summary: A new program at Calvin will help second-year students address the
dreaded "sophomore slump."

Full story see http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/soph-slump.htm

A distinctive mentoring program at Calvin College will address the sophomore
slump for a heretofore underserved student population.

Calvin’s Multicultural Student Development Office has received a $10,000
grant from the DaimlerChrysler Corporation to expand its Ambassador Peer
Mentoring program, an effort centered on students of African American,
Hispanic, Asian and Native American (AHANA) descent. The grant comes from
DaimlerChrysler’s Minority Retention Award program.

The expanded mentoring effort will allow Calvin to encourage AHANA students
during the sophomore year, a time that researchers have pinpointed as a pivotal
point in the college career.

"Sophomore year is a time when for a number of reasons -- academic, social,
financial, vocational or just institutional fit -- students tend to give up on
college," says Calvin's Jacque Rhodes. "It is especially difficult for AHANA
students because of the pressures they face from being a minority presence in a
predominately white institution."

Ten junior and senior minority students will be chosen as student mentors or
"ambassadors" through the program. They will attend a Sophomore Summit prior to
the 2007-2008 academic year. There they will they will learn how to identify
potential at-risk indicators in academic and social behavior, discuss logistics
for continuing the mentoring relationship beyond the summit and be introduced
to the strengths-based approach to learning.

Thirty sophomore AHANA students will also attend the summit, which is planned
as the kickoff of the mentoring relationship. The 30 students will be assigned
in groups to each mentor.

Integral to the expanded mentoring effort is the Clifton Strengths Finder, an
assessment tool that allows students to pinpoint their talents and develop them
through academic, leadership and career opportunities. Both mentors and mentees
will take the StrengthsFinder and develop goals throughout the sophomore year
based on their various strengths.

The DaimlerChrysler Minority Retention Award program is administered by the
Michigan Colleges Foundation, whose 14 members are all independent, four-year,
liberal arts colleges, accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges
and Secondary Schools, located in the state of Michigan.

Contact Rhodes at 616-526-6081 or jrhodes@calvin.edu

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Received on Tue Feb 27 13:55:42 2007