LifeSmart Education PeerMentor Program

LifeSmart Education is a nonprofit based in Ohio dedicated to helping under-resourced youth. We offer various programs to help kids gain life management skills. Through our programs, we foster self-motivation and determination to help students become self-reliant.  

Our program, Mentors for New Immigrants, provides guidance and support to newly arrived immigrant children, ages 10-15, who are navigating the US school system and life in the US. Often, they are from underserved areas and don’t have good support from their family, as their parents are also adapting to the US. We aim to alleviate barriers to success and promote engagement so that immigrant youth will adapt and thrive in both school and life.

You can help immigrant youth by sharing your own experiences to help the children overcome cultural, language, and academic barriers. New immigrant youth experience a lot of change in a short period of time. They need help understanding the US school system, including choosing classes and extracurriculars and communicating with teachers, coaches, and other resources. Through this mentoring program, they will receive the support and resources to gain self-confidence in their new environment, help with difficult moments in life, and can achieve success with their academic and personal goals.

Through this mentoring program, they will receive the support and resources to gain self-confidence in their new environment and help with difficult moments in life, so they can achieve success with their academic and personal goals.

Mentors: 

• Share life experiences, academic insights, and valuable tips on lessons learned
• Discuss how to address or overcome common issues and barriers
• Share vulnerable or difficult moments to help prepare other new immigrant youth
• Motivate others to achieve academic goals by sharing successes and struggles in school, extracurricular activities, and more
• Create video vlogs to engage with immigrant youth
• Work remotely 
• 2-4 hours per week commitment
• Open to high schoolers, middle schoolers, and full-time college students

Support Staff:

• Provide essential program assistance such as:

                             o   Subtitling videos

                             o   Annotating events

                             o   Offering suggestions on content to PeerMentors

• Work behind the scenes
• Work remotely 
• Flexible commitment based on needs from PeerMentors,  approximately 2-4 hours 
• Open to anyone – parents and grandparents as well as school-age individuals

Being a Mentor or Support Staff member has so many benefits – not only will you make a difference in others’ lives, but you will grow yourself! You’ll learn leadership skills, improve your communication and tech skills, and grow self-confidence. In addition, you will receive volunteer credit and a letter of recommendation for your contributions.

Interested? Send us a personal statement to [email protected] . Please include a short overview of your resume – name, age, education, social committees or campaigns, extracurricular activities, and any other relevant experience. Additionally, let us know why you want to be a Mentor or a member of the Support Staff. How do your interests and experience relate to this program?

Following an initial orientation and trial period, volunteers will be asked to fully commit to participating. This program commitment will ensure consistency for children in the program.