Tri-C, CSU Recruit 90 New College Now Mentors

Friendly competition helps spur mentor recruitment

In April, Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C^®) and Cleveland State University agreed to assist the College Now Mentoring Program with a friendly wager.

It's a wager that Tri-C can now proudly say it won. By the May 31 deadline, Tri-C recruited 53 employees to become College Now mentors, while Cleveland State recruited 37.

The victory for Tri-C means Cleveland State President Dr. Laura Bloomberg will wear a Tri-C T-shirt for a day, and Cleveland State will donate to a charity of Tri-C’s choosing in honor of the mentors.

But the real winners are the students in the College Now Mentoring Program, who now have 90 new mentors to help guide them throughout their college journey.

The virtual program has significantly increased the retention, persistence and graduation rate of student participants. It uses a unique online platform to guide communication between mentors and students through an interactive, personalized curriculum.

The mentoring program is a minimal time investment for mentors — two emails per month and three meetings or virtual connections per year — but yields tremendous results for students.

A total of 94% of College Now student mentees continue from their first to second year of college, and 70% of College Now student mentees graduate on time, compared to 41% nationally.

"The competition was fun, and I think Dr. Bloomberg is going to look great in Tri-C teal," said Tri-C President Dr. Michael A. Baston. "But the real story is that our institutions combined to recruit 90 new mentors to the College Now Mentoring Program. Both Tri-C and Cleveland State should be incredibly proud of their people answering the call for mentors, positively impacting our students and our region."

June 21, 2024

By Erik Cassano, 216-987-3577 erik.cassano@tri-c.edu