You thought the holidays were over, but January is really the most wonderful time of the year. Every January is National Mentoring Month! We welcome every new year with a renewed focus on mentors and the work that they do. To all mentors reading this, thank you for volunteering your time and efforts to support a high school student on their path towards college and career success. To anyone not yet mentoring, we hope you take this time to learn about the great work that so many volunteers are doing across the country.
This annual observance is organized by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership. It’s an opportunity for mentors and mentoring organizations to work together and bring heightened visibility to a cause that we all believe in. Did you know that a student with a mentor is 55% more likely to enroll in college, compared to a young person without a mentor?
There are plenty of ways you can join the conversation with us online this month:
1. I Am a Mentor Day is January 4, 2018
This is your chance to #humblebrag about how you’re a volunteer mentor. We’ve done the work for you: You can use these sample messages to share that you are a volunteer on social media. Post on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with a photo of you and your mentee.
2. The National Mentoring Month Kick-off Twitter Chat is on January 11 at 3 p.m. ET.
We’ll be Tweeting with @MENTORnational and other mentoring organizations and we want you to join in. As a volunteer mentor, your voice and your experiences would enrich the conversation. We hope to see you online.
3. Thank Your Mentor Day is January 25, 2018
Do you have your own mentor? Has someone in your life supported and encouraged you along your own path to college or career success? If so, today is the day to thank them. Use the hashtag #ThankYourMentor to connect with your mentor online. They’ll appreciate it, and maybe someone will thank you this day too.
No matter how you participate in National Mentoring Month, thank you for being a mentor to a young person and helping your mentee dream bigger about the future. Thank you for believing in the transformational power of relationships. Thank you for working every week, every month, with a student who has the potential to change the world. We couldn’t do this work without you!
Now is the perfect time to nominate your friends to become mentors, connect us with your company if they might be interested in partnering with us, and apply to become a mentor yourself if you’re not yet.
