This fall, the Ozark Campus Mentoring Program will enter its 8th year of service. Mentor Coordinator Mike Bogue notes that over six years, first-time Ozark Campus students with mentors have returned at a 2.5% greater fall-to-fall rate than first-time Ozark Campus students without mentors.
Bogue adds, “An Ozark Campus Mentor establishes a relationship with a first-time student, empowering him or her to experience a successful first semester.”
Any full-time Ozark Campus faculty or staff employee may volunteer to become a mentor who provides advice, encouragement, and guidance to his or her assigned students for the fall semester. When surveyed, 83% of first-time students with mentors indicate it was a beneficial experience.
“Usually,” Bogue says, “every mentor is assigned from one to three first-time students. Further, over seven years, 91% of surveyed mentors have indicated they had a satisfying experience.”
In addition, Bogue said mentoring a first-time student takes about three hours a semester, or one hour each month. He added, “That equals out to about fifteen minutes per week.”
Any full-time Ozark Campus faculty or staff employee interested in becoming a mentor should contact Bogue for more details.
