A Mentor’s Greatest Joy

By: Tracy Young

“You have the drive and resilience to graduate from college”, I firmly stated to my 16-year-old mentee as I looked into her eyes in the school library her junior year of high school.  

Valerie was 16 years old, a first gen low-income student who was feeling overwhelmed with the academic rigors of junior year and needing to find part time employment to help her family. As her mentor, I needed to rally her and have her believe that she was “college material”. 

Our journey traversed 6 years together. There were bumps. Her freshman year as a nursing major, she called me in tears to tell me she was getting a “C-” in Biology and that her hopes of a nursing degree were gone.  (You need to have a 3.9 GPA in order to be admitted to the nursing program.)

With the help of her counselor, we purposely had Val fail her Biology class which allowed her to retake the class the next semester and replace the grade. The next semester she scored an “A” in Biology.

We dealt with the fact that we never had enough funding for the next year at Sonoma State and each spring she spent hours writing scholarship essays, trying to find additional funds. I encouraged her to volunteer in the areas she felt passionate about and she ran with it, spending time with undocumented students at the Dream Center. 

We weathered the pandemic and the difficulties and pluses of living at home in cramped spaces with spotty internet. We cheered and cried as she had 3 semesters of all “A”s and then found out that she only had a cumulative 3.75 GPA and it wasn’t enough to make the nursing program.

On that hot day this past May, I watched as she walked across the stage at Sonoma State and graduated with honors as a Kinesiology major. She did it in 4 years, a monumental feat for a low-income, first gen student who came to the USA as an immigrant.  

As soon as Val graduated she was determined to find a job and approached the job market like school. At one point Val was fielding 3 offers. In July she began her career as a program assistant with the Social Impact Division at the Kaiser Foundation. 

My experience with Val changed her life as much as it did my own. Someone once said that as a high school mentor “Sometimes you are the only positive adult relationship your student has”.  

So many times I could tell that Val wasn’t sure she could make it. Money always plagued her and was a constant worry. The fear that she was an “imposter”and really didn’t belong at college was perpetual. She turned to me, her mentor, for reassurance and affirmation and leaned on me. I didn’t realize how important it is to believe in your mentee and to reflect back to them the potential you see. 

I am changed having mentored Val. I have done some important things in my life and then I have done some life changing things, like mentoring Val. I see young people now as “moldable” or with the thought “not yet”. I see them not so much as they are, but their potential.  With a little bit of encouragement and someone who believes in them, mentoring makes a difference and changes the world. 

My commitment to Val was completed as she had graduated from college and found a job. Recently she asked me,  “Tracy, I know your responsibility is done, but will you stay with me and continue to mentor me through graduate school?” “Always!” I said to her.

Consider mentoring a low-income first gen student of color with the Reach Foundation.  It will change that student's life, but most of all yours! Learn more.