iMentor Launches First-Ever National "Bring Your Mentee to Work Day"

"You have to see it to be it," said Dr. Heather D. Wathington, CEO, iMentor. "There is nothing more exciting to me than putting hundreds of high school juniors and seniors in offices across the country with their mentors so that they can see first-hand how far one can go with a college degree. We're incredibly grateful to our sponsors for allowing these mission-critical partnerships to happen." 

Bring Your Mentee to Work Day is the first program of its kind for iMentor: an opportunity for program mentors nationwide to participate in a common in-person event. Special programming ranging from office tours, to literal seats at the table in management meetings, to coffee and snack chats in break rooms is unique to each corporation across one day in each region. For example, in Chicago, students who visited Google met with senior leaders and received high level overviews on the engineering, design and even recruitment process so they can imagine themselves as a future "Googler" in action. The common thread? Starting to build social capital and mapping out key next steps in their personal path toward college. As juniors head into summer and critical planning for college lists, essays and applications in the fall, these opportunities may lead toward a particular major or area of study.  For seniors, it's yet another spark to ignite their "why" for pursuing and persevering through a college degree post high school graduation.  

"Career-connected learning is an essential part of our vision that students build a strong plan toward a rewarding career," said NYC Public School Chancellor David C. Banks. "We applaud the work that iMentor and its corporate partners EY, Morgan Stanley, and Google are doing to support Bring Your Mentee to Work Day and to help students learn about the diversity of careers that are available to them.  Partnerships like this are an important component of our shared mission to support the economic success and mobility of the future leaders of New York City." 

This year alone, iMentor has served more than 3,100 11th and 12th grade students in public schools across its programs in New York City, Chicago and Baltimore. iMentor is uniquely a whole-school model in building relationships that support students. In school, during the school day, iMentor students meet twice a week with a specially trained instructor to map out critical elements of both their junior and senior year of high school on a path toward college.  Students are also paired with an adult mentor from the community who is a professional with whom they meet monthly at pair events and various other times as schedules permit. 

"At EY, we proudly support iMentor and Bring Your Mentee to Work Day, reflecting our belief in the transformative power of mentorship. By inviting young individuals into our professional world, we offer more than a glimpse into potential careers; we foster confidence, impart skills, and empower them to succeed in their futures," said Alysia Steinmann, Metro NY Office Managing Partner at EY. 

iMentor has been helping transform lives through 1:1 mentoring for 25 years. To date, the program has impacted more than 42,000 students. For Bring Your Mentee to Work Day, participants joined from 15+ public schools nationwide. Per students' schedules the events took place between April and June 2024.  

"Not only is it exciting for the iMentor students to visit our campus, but the experience is incredibly valuable to our employees as well. With Bring Your Mentee to Work Day, Googlers have the opportunity to actively engage with the next generation of future leaders and offer them a first-hand look at what it's like to work here," said Tequila Lamar, NYC Outreach Lead for Education for Social Impact at Google. 

A college degree is the most direct path to economic mobility – a four-year college graduate earns $1M more over a lifetime than someone who does not go to college; and a bachelor's degree is worth 84% more than a high school diploma. Mentoring is a proven catalyst to enrollment: 74% of iMentor's 2023 graduating class immediately enrolled in college versus the 52% historic national average of students with similar backgrounds.  

"The more touch points and insight to what it's really like to earn a college degree and enter the workforce, the better," noted Wathington. 

For access to program participants (iMentor leadership, school partners, corporate partners, students, and volunteers) contact Marcia Gray ([email protected]). 

About iMentor
iMentor was founded in 1999 by John Griffin, founder of Blue Ridge Capital, and two public-interest lawyers, Richard Buery and Matt Klein, who believed in the power of mentoring and the impact of providing young people with equitable access to a college education. Over the past 25 years, we've expanded to three regions, 23 partner programs, and served over 42,000 students. iMentor is a national 1:1 mentoring program whose model harnesses the power of long-term, personal relationships to help students – largely first-generation from under-resourced communities – navigate a path for themselves and their families.  A nonprofit on the move, iMentor receives praise from students, schools, mentors, and corporate partners as a powerful engine bringing about systemic change, charting new pathways for student success, and connecting American companies to a promising pipeline of next generation talent.  

SOURCE iMentor