ACADEMIC MENTOR INTERNAt — Nicholas Academic Centers

Nicholas Academic Centers History

In the early 1990s, Superior Court Judge Jack K. Mandel learned that many students at  Santa Ana Unified School District’s (SAUSD) high schools were studying outside on the pavement once classes were done for the day. The reason, he discovered, was because the school district could not afford to keep their libraries open; and, there was no place at home for the students to study. Concerned, Judge Mandel persuaded the then district superintendent to allow him to volunteer at Santa Ana High School and keep the library open after school. During the decade following, Judge Mandel would conclude his court cases at the Orange County Courthouse and continue his day at Santa Ana High School to supervise and mentor youth in the library. Bolstered by this after-school mentoring, students flourished. However, many lacked the resources or support to attend college. Judge Mandel worked with students, guidance counselors, and colleges to get many of these deserving students, dubbed the “The Judge’s Kids”, into four-year colleges.

Upon learning of Judge Mandel’s philanthropic work, Dr. Henry T. Nicholas, III decided that these kinds of “incubator” programs could make the difference between success and failure for young people. At the time Judge Mandel, who was retired from the bench, was named the first Executive Director of the Education Foundation and charged with identifying a team to help him create and launch an after school academic center that replicated the success of his “Judge’s Kids” efforts. Judge Mandel entrusted three of his “Judge’s Kids” program graduates with the responsibility of creating and launching the first Nicholas Academic Center, launched in January 2008 and graduated with a class of 24 scholars in June 2009.  Since inception, the program has grown from one to three centers after it entered into an official partnership with the Santa Ana Unified School District to open a center inside Valley High School in 2009 and a third center inside Century High School in 2016. The centers have graduated 2,070 students over the course of 15 years. On average, 99% of graduates have enrolled directly into college after graduating high school, 75% choosing to enroll at a 4-year university.

Nicholas Academic Centers Today

Currently, the Nicholas Academic Centers provide after school college access and success services to 500 students, 95% of which are Latino and First-Generation. The centers also provide over $2 million dollars in scholarships to its graduates on an annual basis. 

Nicholas Academic Centers Mission

To support underserved high school students to improve their academic performance, achieve their full scholarly and social potential, promote their admission to colleges, retention, and graduation.

Brief Job Description

NAC Academic Mentors’ primary responsibility is to empower students by encouraging them to develop skills necessary to successfully navigate higher education and providing academic assistance. Academic Mentors provide guidance and coach students on a wide range of academic subjects, assisting students in improving academic achievement, and work on study, testing and knowledge skills. Other assistance may include reviewing class materials, reading and discussing school texts, predicting test questions, formulating ideas for papers, or working on solutions to problems related to students’ core academic classes. Academic Mentors are not expected to know everything about specific subjects, but they are expected to access school texts, online tutor programs, and communicate with their supervisors whenever additional information is needed. 

MENTORING/PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION

• Strive to support all students by caring about their success.
• Mentor students by remembering to: 
• REACH out to the students present in the center.
• ACTIVELY LISTEN to their ideas.
• CELEBRATE their accomplishments. 
• ESTABLISH mentor/mentee relationship boundaries.

• Create supportive and collaborative learning environments where students feel safe to interact and learn from each other.
• Model study habits and teach students about time management, note-taking, reading and active listening as well as to develop skills necessary for academic success. 
• Facilitate academic mentoring sessions with one or more students.
• Maintain communication with the whole Academics staff and NAC Management Team.
• Serves as a role model, inspiring and motivating students to excel academically and pursue postsecondary education. 
• Learn the process of college placement and apply valuable skills and practices for mentoring and helping students accomplish their higher education goals. 
• Provide mentorship and academic  assistance to a minimum of 8 to 10 students every day.
• Provide academic support in all areas of academics when needed.
• Maintain and target students on case management load.
• Move around the academic center continuously to identify students’ changing needs throughout the day.
• Assist with designing and implementing SMART lesson plans throughout the academic year, including fall, winter and spring breaks, and for NAC’s Summer program (i.e. classes, workshops, field trips, Academic Learning Activities).  
• Help students develop a high level of motivation in all academic areas.
• Participate and actively contribute to discussion during biweekly tutor meetings to discuss student progress.

Tasks:

The intern will demonstrate their learning outcomes by:
Gathered resources for their own professional toolkit researched and vetted for the creation of their original content and written material from class and group meeting sessions with students.
Understand the importance of academic mentorship and how it directly ties to the success of graduating scholars and overall success of the Academics Department and whole organization.
Begin to critically reflect on the importance of educational settings such as the NAC and gain an understanding of the importance of mentorship as a whole.

Training:

Identify the specific method of training you will employ to ensure your intern achieved each respective learning outcome. Consider the type and frequency of mentorship you will provide and any materials, assignments, or orientations the intern must complete as part of their ongoing training process. It may help you to complete the following sentence to generate these learning outcomes; “To help the intern achieve the proposed learning outcomes, I will…”
To help the intern achieve the proposed learning outcomes, the supervisors will provide:
Initial orientation for new Intern to review organizational policies and procedures
Required Mentoring Boundaries and Child Abuse Trainings
Set up bi-weekly check-ins with Intern to discuss updates or answer any questions or concerns the Intern may have
Set up bi-weekly team meetings to review client case management
Will set up mid-term meeting to evaluate progress of learning outcomes

Learning Outcome:

By the end of the internship, the student will be able to:
Develop better oral communication skills by producing original content and written material while performing in live classroom or group settings once a week.
Develop critical-thinking skills by contributing original ideas directly to the Academics team in brainstorm sessions.
Familiarize themselves in an educational setting and gain an understanding of youth today.

Background check:

livescan background check, TB clearance