DU picnic kicks off mentoring program

A barbeque picnic at Delta Upsilon yesterday kicked off the second annual College Now Collaborative, a mentor program between the fraternity and West Philadelphia High School. As part of the program, DU brothers advise and counsel high school students. The mentors meet with their advisees about once every two weeks for an informal conversation. The mentors also run workshops to teach the students basic skills including public speaking, test taking and studying. Last year, the group held eight of these workshops. College junior Joe Parisi, this year's College Now Collaborative chairman, said he wants to expand the program to reach more students in West Philadelphia. He said he would also like to involve other University groups in the mentoring process. College senior David Doctorow, who founded the collaborative last year, said he hopes University students outside of his fraternity will assist DU's program because he wants as diverse a group as possible mentoring the high school students. Both Parisi and Doctorow said the expansion would begin next spring, when the two accept applications from other groups. But until then, the focus will be on the nine original high school students who are still part of the collaborative's effort. Doctorow said this year the program's aim will be to ensure that the nine West Philadelphia High School students go on to college. "We know what the important issues are," he said. DU will take the high school students to colleges around the Philadelphia area and let them speak with admissions officers and college counselors. Doctorow said yesterday's picnic was beneficial for the students because "they're realizing college is a fun thing. It's not just school." Terrance Williams, a junior at West Philadelphia High School, said the main reason he returned this fall was that he enjoyed the program last year. "I liked going to the [University basketball] games," he said. "And sometimes we'd go play basketball up the street." College junior Anthony Pryor is Williams' mentor for the second straight year. "For the first year, it went extremely well," he said. "Sometimes it's difficult to get these abstract concepts off the ground." Sana Heath-El, who is also a high school student involved in the program, said the collaborative's efforts are "definitely worthwhile." "They're doing a good job," she said. "You meet new people and make new friends." Veteran mentors praised the program during yesterday's barbeque. "If mentoring made even just a little difference, it was well worth my time," College junior Chris Meyers.