Students hurrying down Locust Walk over the past few weeks might have stopped for free hot chocolate handed out by students representing a maybe-unfamiliar organization.
These students, however, have been working to publicize the mission of the U.S. Dream Academy, Inc., a national mentoring program for at-risk children, and encourage others to attend their on-campus “Mentorship Fair” today at 3 p.m. in Houston Hall.
Despite their presence on Locust Walk, the kindness of the Dream Academy only begins with free hot chocolate. The program, which has partnered with the Wharton School for the last five years, works with G.W. Childs Elementary School in South Philadelphia to pair children of incarcerated parents or siblings with Penn students for both academic and recreational activities.
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“We want to draw those kids away from the troubled situations they have at home,” Wharton freshman Adam Freed, a Dream Academy mentor, said.
The mentorship fair will offer not only a chance to learn about the program, but also a chance to visit the school with covered SEPTA fares and spend the afternoon playing games and talking with the young students.
“In my ideal world, I would love to see at least 100 people come,” Naaila Grey, mentor coordinator for the U.S. Dream Academy, Philadelphia, said. Grey and Freed both hope to inspire and recruit Penn freshmen and sophomores who can cultivate long-term relationships with their mentees.
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While there are already many mentoring programs on campus — such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, PennPals and WriteOn! — Grey believes that the Academy is different. “People think of an after-school program as babysitting or running around,” she said. “But [ours is] really about nurturing the whole child.”
Freed explained that while it can be difficult to differentiate his group from other mentoring programs at Penn, “it really just takes visiting the school once — the first 15 to 20 minutes — to understand how special it is and how eager the kids are to have a mentor. The kids have a spark, a [compelling] energy.”
To convey some of that energy to possible recruits, Grey will read letters sent by past mentees to their mentors.
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Developing that kind of relationship, Grey said, is not so difficult as it might sound. “[Mentoring] is simply being a friend,” she added. “It’s something we all can do. We’ve all been friends.”
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