Mentoring Program Founded by La Verne Adjunct Professor Seeks to Expand

In Dr. Torie Weiston’s high school days, she and most of her classmates considered college a foregone conclusion. The University of La Verne Adjunct Professor in the English Department attended Claremont High School, where she says there is an established pipeline to postsecondary education.

So when Weiston began her career as an educator at Etiwanda High School in Rancho Cucamonga, her first day in the classroom came as a shock.

“The kids were unsure if they were going to college,” Weiston said. “It was just such a startling difference for me and that’s what motivated me to do something beyond my classroom.”

Since 2007, Weiston, her colleague, Dr. Gayle Serdan, also a La Verne Adjunct Professor, and their team of volunteers have helped more than 300 students – primarily black, Latino, low-income and first-generation – through the Youth Mentoring Action Network. The group has a 100 percent success rate in helping students they have mentored graduate high school on time. Nearly all have gone on to college and did not drop out once enrolled.

Included among them are students who have enrolled in colleges such as American and Howard University.

Lance White, a sophomore at Cal State San Bernardino and a public relations intern for the group, received mentorship as a student at Etiwanda. Serdan, who was his piano teacher in his senior year, mentioned the network to him. His cousin, who was receiving guidance from the mentors, also recommended it.

White signed up when he found himself struggling in the classroom. He says the struggle began after his father became hospitalized and nearly died due to a heart-related illness. Suddenly, White became the man of the family, taking care of his younger sister while his mother worked and visited her husband in the hospital.

“It was hard to focus in class,” White said. “My mind was in other places and I couldn’t focus.”

Serdan and Weiston helped him regain his focus, finish high school and enroll in college.

The Youth Mentoring Action Network has mainly focused on students at Etiwanda, but would like to expand to other schools in the Chaffey Joint Union High School District and beyond. Weiston said she would like to work with other districts such as Pomona Unified School District and the Covina-Valley Unified School District.

But that is going to require more mentors.

“A lot more people want our services than we’re able to provide,” Weiston said.

Weiston says the service – giving students a role model, along with college guidance – is needed because college-attainment rates in the Inland Empire are low.

According to the California Postsecondary Education Commission, only 24 percent of San Bernardino County high school seniors in 2012 completed the necessary coursework to be eligible for a UC or CSU campus, lower than the 36 percent statewide average. The commission also said 21 percent of Latinos and 19 percent of black students met eligibility requirements for either college system.

“We need to make an effort to increase those rates,” she said.

The group hosts weekend workshops called College Application Bootcamp, youth-led discussions on education, education policy and other issues and internship programs that grant students skills in fund development, public relations and programming, among other areas.

Serdan, a musician and music teacher, not only shows students the careers they can pursue in music, but also combines music with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education. Through sound synthesis, soundscape creation and examining music through oscillators, students get to see how STEM and music relates.

“When I’m working with these kids, the sky’s the limit,” Serdan said. “I see them wanting to get into music – not only playing it, but producing it.”

White says relationships with mentors differ from ones with many high school advisors.

“With a mentor, you can come to them and be able to talk about anything going on in your life and help you overcome it so it doesn’t affect your future,” he said.

Although the network specializes in serving certain populations such as minority, LGBTQ and low-income students, it is open to everyone, Weiston said.

Information: 866-509-1156, outreach@mentoringactionnetwork.org or http://www.mentoringactionnetwork.org.