Our mentorship program

About Our Program          

 

Saturday Scholars runs a student-led STEM mentorship program that aims to connect passionate high school students in the Capital Region with experienced mentors in STEM fields. Over the course of our three month program, students will get professional development advice from their mentors and create a STEM-based passion project to begin exploring a field of their interest. The scope and difficulty of the project is up to the student. We want mentees to have fun and explore STEM in a way that excites them. They can utilize their mentor meetings to better understand what a career in STEM looks like, generate ideas, and get feedback regarding their passion project. Students will form one-on-one relationships with their mentor, but will have plenty of space to collaborate with each other and acquire feedback from us. At the end of the three month program, students will have the opportunity to present their passion project to their peers and mentors. As always, our program is at no cost to the mentor or mentee!

 

What is a stem passion project?

 

A STEM passion project can be almost anything. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. These fields cover a wide variety of concepts. Students can create any project related to a field of STEM, and can choose to do so at various levels of involvement and difficulty. The mentor will not grade or complete the project with the student. The role of the mentor is to help the student to understand what it’s like to be in a STEM career and provide advice on how they can pursue such a profession. If needed, the student can ask the mentor to make sure his or her research is accurate, provide information regarding how to carry out real experiments, or point the student to useful resources related to his or her passion project. The passion project is truly a product of the student’s own thinking and initiative. Some examples of possible passion projects are listed below.

 

note: these projects are just examples, you can do something that is not listed!

 

 

science

 

• Writing a research paper                                                                                

• Conducting a literature review                                     

• Making a poster/presentation 

• Proposing an experiment

 

                          

 

Mathematics

 

• Learning higher level math topics

• Researching the field of economics                             

 

 

general stem

 

• Researching any STEM related career

• Reading a STEM-themed book

 

 

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program duration

 

Our program usually lasts roughly 3 months. Over this period, the students will meet with their mentor over Zoom at least once a month. There is a minimum of 3 meetings that are required, but we highly suggest having more. The length of each meeting can be decided between the student and mentor. Students may choose to follow the template meeting agendas below:

 

Mandatory meeting 1

 

• Introduce yourself to your mentor

• Have your mentor share their STEM story

• Discuss your STEM interests and ask questions you may have

• Brainstorm and come up with a passion project idea with your mentor

 

 

Mandatory meeting 2

 

• Your project should be about halfway done

• Take the time to ask your mentor questions and receive feedback

• Get your mentor’s guidance on how to find reputable resources

• Note down what your mentor says to implement it into your project

 

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mandatory meeting 3

 

• Your project should be almost finished and your final presentation should be started  

• Ask any remaining questions you have and  make sure to keep in touch with mentors for future research opportunities

 

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assignments

 

Assignments will be posted at the beginning of each month on Google Classroom and should be submitted through Google Classroom by the stated deadline. Each month, there will be two assignments. One is a mentor meeting notes template that each mentee will be given a copy of. Although mentees and mentors can meet multiple times a month, the mentee is only required to fill out the meeting note document at one meeting.

 

The other assignment during each month is a check-in question about the mentee’s passion project. The final check-in question will ask the mentee to submit their final passion project for us to review. Please remember that every assignment has a hard deadline unless you make is aware of extenuating circumstances ahead of time. Tardiness without informing our team beforehand will result in the mentee not receiving the program certificate.

 

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group check-ins

 

Our program will consist of biweekly meetings in which mentees can collaborate within a smaller group of fellow mentees. Mentees will be separated into groups based on similar availability. These group check-ins allow mentees to bounce off ideas, ask questions regarding the process, and receive feedback on their passion project. They will be held virtually over Google Meet and be facilitated by two members of the Saturday Scholars team. 

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communication

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Google Classroom

 

• We will be using Google Classroom as our primary means of communication. Assignments, important dates and deadlines, and check-in questions will be posted here. 

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Email:

 

• Mentees will communicate with their mentors through email: this means that monthly meetings should be scheduled over email. Mentees are responsible for reaching out to their mentor and working with them to schedule meeting times. Mentors will receive a monthly check-in form email so that they can notify us of any questions or concerns they might have so that we can address them. Mentees can also reach the Saturday Scholars board through email during this program and beyond. 

 

Our email address is : nextgensaturdayscholars@gmail.com

 

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Final presentation day

 

It is required that every student showcase their incredible passion project. Students will present their project and the things they learned from our program for a maximum of five minutes. The final presentation will be in person. We expect to be able to invite mentors as well as the families of mentees to watch. Mentees will also be able to listen to other mentees present and expand their knowledge of STEM. In order to get the mentees ready for final presentation day, there will be practice presentation sessions so that they can receive feedback on their presentation. Just so that everyone can attend this important event, we will likely have two sessions.

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benefits for mentees    

 

You will receive a Certificate of Completion, get to network with STEM professionals in the area, and explore careers in STEM. You will also create an individual project to kickstart your STEM journey and help you stand out in future college applications.

 

benefits for mentors

 

You will get to develop your leadership qualities and guide the next generation with a low time commitment. You will also get to improve your communication and personal skills. This unique opportunity allows you to give back to your community and achieve a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.