By Staff
Volunteers needed to nurture students
By CHRISTINA HALE, Staff Writer
Since 2005, Beaufort County Community College’s Student Support Services has provided a mentoring program to its students in need. This year that program is expanding to the community.
Student Support Services is a federally funded program designed to assist full-time students who are educationally and culturally disadvantaged. To be eligible for the program, a student must be a first-generation college student of low income or have a documented disability.
Maurice Jordan, community resource coordinator for Student Support Services, said about 175 students are accepted into the program each semester.
Once a student is accepted, the program provides that student with educational planning, tutoring, assistance with financial aid, leadership development and access to computer technology.
Out of the 175 students in the program, about 15 to 20 will be targeted to receive a mentor from the community.
In order to get the expanded program up to full speed, Jordan said BCCC needs college graduates willing to volunteer for at least four to six hours a month to mentor one student.
Dorothy Jordan, director of Student Support Services, said these students need someone to “encourage them and broaden their horizons.”
The director said mentors don’t have to be “a doctor or a lawyer.”
People chosen to serve as mentors will go through a four-hour training session at the college.
Mentors may serve for multiple semesters.
To attend the mentoring orientation or to find out how to become a volunteer mentor, contact Maurice Jordan at 940-6251.