MetroHealth introduces mentoring program to support recent Lincoln-West graduates

(Cleveland) - Although the inaugural class of the Lincoln-West School of Science and Health graduated on June 21, the scholars will still have support from The MetroHealth System, where they took classes onsite, job shadowed and interned to learn about careers in health care.

A.I.M.S. – Academic Inspiration for MetroHealth Success Mentoring Program – pairs the students as mentees with MetroHealth employees as mentors. The mentors/mentees will connect twice a month via phone, text, Skype, or through other channels to discuss students' accomplishments, challenges, career advice, and other topics related to their post high school transition. All graduates have been paired with a MetroHealth mentor.

Program goals are to:

- Increase college retention and graduation rates

- Provide assistance to mentees with adjusting and navigating their college experience and life post-high school

- Encourage students' academic excellence

"We want you to remain part of this family. We want to continue working with you, and we want to inspire you and help you to live out your dreams," Alan K. Nevel, Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity and Human Resources Officer, told the new high school graduates.

"I really appreciate you taking the time out to do this," Alan told the mentors. "It's important to invest your time, efforts and energy in these young folks. You may be one of the very few people who has a positive message for these students.

Let's build relationships."

The mentor-mentee pairs, who were selected based on careers, hobbies and interests, met for the first time at a luncheon Wednesday afternoon. They participated in ice breakers to get to know each other, exchanged contact information and started planning the framework for their mentoring relationship.