Our Tailored Education through Accountability, Mentoring, and Service
Tailored: Each student faces unique circumstances and has needs that may not always be addressed in the classroom or in the home, which often create obstacles for the student to see and then qualify for future educational and career opportunities. When these circumstances and needs are not appropriately and regularly addressed, these students may not fully grow and develop, or acquire the skills, habits, and other necessary preparation to qualify for these future opportunities. Statistically, this is more often true for students who come from underrepresented and otherwise disadvantaged backgrounds. Yet, when students receive consistent, positive one-on-one attention outside the home and classroom, positive behaviors are reinforced and/or introduced and students are exposed to information and resources that will empower them to remain focused on and become prepared and qualified for the best educational and career opportunities in the future.
Education: A process that begins at birth and continues throughout life and includes elements of teaching and learning and is continually shaped by one's own psychological (internal) and sociological (external) factors.
Accountability: When an individual acknowledges and takes personal responsibility for his/her own decisions and outcomes.
Mentoring: Eugene Garcia appropriately said that "learning is performance achieved through assistance" (Garcia, 2001). Regular one-on-one mentoring provides this assistance. Mentors use their age and experiences to serve as a positive example, tutor, role model, and overall positive relationship, and they promote and reinforce mentee growth and development. In essence, regular one-on-one mentoring creates a setting where the younger mentee can become connected with people, resources, and opportunities outside of his/her normal realm of influence. These mentor-facilitated connections often open doors to and help the mentee become qualified for enhanced opportunities that might not have been available without the help of the mentor. Mentoring also provides a setting for the mentor to grow and develop as he/she reaches out and empowers others through selfless service.
Service: When people conduct projects and other selfless acts both the recipients and participants benefit and ultimately, neighborhoods and communities become more unified.
Students receive a tailored education when they become accountable for their own decisions, become increasingly empowered through the mentoring of others, and then share their learning and growth through selfless service.