Spark: sign up to mentor for this dropout prevention program

Middle school students in Philly are up against a lot these days – the classic adolescent awkwardness, the national drop-out crisis, and our local funding issues, to start with.

Take a student like Mahmoud, for instance. A 7th grader this past spring, his teachers described him as withdrawn and reserved in class, lacking the engagement required to beat everything students face these days, so they nominated him for Spark, a San Francisco-based mentoring program focused on dropout prevention that expanded to Philly last winter.

Since its launch, Spark has plans to grow from serving 67 students at three schools in its pilot program this spring to over 125 students from six schools starting in September. Tech companies like SEER Interactive, Jarvus Innovations and RJMetrics participated in the spring pilot. Spark is looking for professionals to be mentors for its fall program.

If you’re curious about the program, RSVP for the July 30 info session at SEER Interactive here.

But back to Mahmoud.

We matched him with Jeremy, an IT professional at nearby University of Pennsylvania, building off Mahmoud’s love of all things technology. Together, over 8 afternoon mentoring sessions in his office, Jeremy taught Mahmoud coding, which led to growth in problem-solving skills and creative thinking.

Two months later, Mahmoud created a blog post detailing computer security tips for students like him, but, more importantly, he spoke up more in class, took greater pride in his work and had a new attitude towards his education.

Regardless of the struggles our schools currently face, Spark believes every student deserves the opportunity Mahmoud had: a personal relationship with a professional who demonstrated the value and possibility of education.

Finally, Spark believes there are hundreds of professionals in Philly who would love to make a tangible difference in the life of a middle schooler. With our growth, we need many new mentors, so we hope you’ll consider joining us to learn more.