Mentoring younger students through afterschool programs can teach college students about leadership, resilience and how the world works all while helping the youth in the community.
“We may appear to be just an afterschool program, but in reality, we are a piece of that slow progress where we’re raising the kids of the Ogden community up to be productive members of it—to love it, to own it,” said Suzanne Miller, executive director of the Youth Impact Program.
The Youth Impact afterschool program works with at-risk youth in Ogden to progress academically, socially and personally. According to Miller, these kids come from difficult home lives and they haven’t been given much of a chance to succeed. That is why programs like Youth Impact offer such a wide range of resources from academic tutoring to classes on how to build healthy relationships.
“We do, also, take referrals from the juvenile justice system, school districts, YCC, Lantern House, we work with all of them,” Miller said.
Collaborating with other afterschool programs and organizations in the community, Miller said, is what helps not only enrich the learning of the students, but also has secured additional state funding to keep Youth Impact’s doors open this year. This financial freedom has allowed these programs to continue focusing on progressing.
When Executive Director of the Utah Afterschool Network Ben Trentelman was young he attended Ogden’s programs.
A staff member said to him, “I really appreciate that you’re here, and I’d love it if you would come back because I think that you’re someone who could be a positive role model for other kids here.”
Those words inspired a young Trentelman to help future generations of afterschool program youth.
“The biggest thing that I’ve seen change for them is their sense of belonging,” said Aliya Newman, operations administrative assistant of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Weber-Davis.
Newman spoke of the need some Utah families have by highlighting how the Boys & Girls Clubs of Weber-Davis experience a surge of these families around the beginning of every school year. To some, belonging to a community means taking ownership or responsibility for the people in it which is what afterschool programs, such as this one, try to do.
“The biggest thing that college students can do is meet kids where they’re at and volunteer and really help them see the potential they have in themselves,” Newman said.
Whether it’s through mentoring, academic tutoring or teaching vocational skills, college students can have a lasting influence in the lives of youth who attend afterschool programs, and can inspire them to continue learning throughout their lives.
