Mentoring Partnership

College mentors Alex Zavaleta and Mario Villanueva during their virtual mentoring session with high school mentees

College mentors conduct virtual mentoring sessions in Spanish and Spanglish.

Sample mentoring session plan

"When [the high school Hispanic students] visited Ball State and we got to connect with them on a personal level, it was really impactful. A lot of them reached out to us and said how much the experience meant to them... I enjoyed it so much to the point I want to keep involving myself in my community." (Karen Pineda-Tejada, Architecture major, Class of 2027)

The goal of the mentoring partnership with heritage students from Warsaw Community High School was to support these Hispanic youths with a positive educational experience and provide them with information to prepare for undergraduate education. In doing so, we stressed the importance and value of retaining and strengthening Spanish as our heritage language. Mentoring provides benefits to both the mentor and the mentee. 

Mentoring Sessions 

Mentoring partnership is a personalized one-on-one experience with a mentor and mentee that were intended to have in-depth conversations about a variety of topics including: maintaining the Spanish language, grammar, preparations for college, scholarship opportunities and more. The virtual mentoring sessions were done weekly on Fridays. Each week mentors prepared themselves with a session plan (see the example) to help facilitate the conversation with high school mentees. 

Ball State Visit by Warsaw Community High School

76 Latinx students and 4 teachers/counselors spent a day with college mentors on BSU campus. The group toured our campus, received admissions information, and became informed on scholarships and club/campus life involvement. The Latinx Student Union facilitated a game to provide involvement and unity among students on campus. Finally, mentors and mentees conducted a Q&A session in which the mentees asked many questions (e.g., "How does it feel to be a Hispanic and be on a college campus like Ball State?") and mentors shared their experiences and support for the high school Hispanic students. The visit was intended to give students an in-person perspective of attending university. Comments from the high school students after the visit:

• Being bilingual is a big advantage when graduating from Ball State University.
• I learned the difference between a major and a minor.
• I learned that the school is very flexible.
• I learned about what careers we can choose.
• I learned how college works, and how much it costs.
• I learned that the bus rides to other buildings on other campuses are free.
• I learned that there are free tutors for students.
• I learned that you can change your major.
• I learned that you can get a job in campus.
• I learned that there are lots of scholarship options for people that go there, and there are lots of clubs.