Kids and Community-Based Mentoring

If you enjoy working with children and would like to help children see the potential in their futures, the Kids and Community-Based mentoring programs would be a good match for you. These programs work to educate and motivate children outside of the academic setting - the primary focus is on the child as a person, not the child as a student.

Programs

• ASPIRE (Assisting Special People through Integration, Recreation, and Education) is dedicated to providing resources and support for individuals with autism spectrum disorders. Students volunteer at weekly swim groups, a weekly playgroup program at the Hampshire Cooperative Nursery School, and/or STEPS, a group for older kids. Through a variety of group activities, the program aims to enhance communication skills and foster positive social interactions among children living with autism.

• Big Brother Big Sister (BBBS) pairs Dartmouth students in one-on-one friendships with children aged 6-13 who come from a variety of family and social situations. BBBS a big commitment and great responsibility, but three decades of big sibs say it has been their most rewarding Dartmouth experience. Connections, a sub-program within BBBS, matches Dartmouth students with individuals aged 8-21 with developmental and emotional disabilities.

• DREAM (Directing through Recreation, Education, And Mentoring) pairs Dartmouth students with children from nearby affordable housing neighborhoods. Mentors and mentees meet at Dartmouth every Friday afternoon, spending time together both in groups and one-on-one. DREAM mentors also work in the community and with their mentee's parents, hosting community dinners, holding homework help sessions, planning special trips, and visiting their mentee at home.

• Eye to Eye is a mentoring program that pairs Dartmouth students with learning disabilities or ADHD with local middle school students who also have learning disabilities or ADHD. These mentoring relationships help students to work successfully with their learning disabilities and to celebrate their differences.

• North Country Weekend is a partnership with East Boston High School in Boston that brings students to Dartmouth to experience the North Country each fall and spring. The goals of the weekend are to provide high school students with an introduction to post secondary educational opportunities, an experience in the outdoors, and activities to build self-esteem among participants through fun and challenging group activities.

• OLE (Outdoor Leadership Experience) is a mentoring program that works with junior high school-aged kids from the Indian River School in Canaan, NH. OLE aims to foster independence and appreciation of nature through leadership experience in the outdoors. The program covers the basics of canoeing, water safety, leave-no-trace wilderness ethics, and group work skills.