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Health & Fitness

January is National Mentoring Month

January is National Mentoring Month, and College Bound Opportunities needs volunteers from the community to mentor its new class of students this February. You can have a meaningful impact in the life of local youth.

College Bound Opportunities Provides Mentoring for Local Youth

Created in 2002, National Mentoring Month focuses national attention on the need for mentors, as well as how each of us can work together to increase the number of mentors to assure positive outcomes for young people. This is certainly a core tenet of College Bound Opportunities with more than 140 community volunteers guiding local youth along their journey to earning a college degree. Because of these one-to-one mentor relationships, 97% of CBO scholars will graduate from college. In just a few weeks, a new class of 25 to 30 high school students will be accepted into the CBO program, and volunteers from the community are needed to mentor these scholars.

While CBO provides many resources, including ACT Prep classes, assistance with financial aid and college applications, laptops, and financial assistance, to its scholars, the mentoring program provides the critical support that these youth need. Because most of the students in the CBO program are low income and first-generation college students, many of them would have bypassed college. CBO's mentors give these students the confidence to be successful in college. "My mentor has been a friend and someone I can look up to as a role model,” Arnie Weil, a graduate of Columbia College, said. “He really motivated me to do what I wanted to do."

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National Mentoring Month celebrates mentoring and the positive effect it can have on young lives. The positive effect on CBO scholars cannot be overstated. Since being founded in 2006, twenty-five scholars have earned a college degree. "CBO and my mentor gave me a lot of direction and I probably wouldn’t have gotten into college without it," said Megan Teplitsky, a graduate of Carleton College. With a new class being accepted this February, CBO will need more volunteer mentors in the community to guide these students. This is an opportunity to truly make a difference in the life of a local youth. To learn more about the CBO mentor program, go to http://cbo4success.org or call 847-943-9226 to help a student today.

About College Bound Opportunities:

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College Bound Opportunities (CBO) is a not-for-profit organization centered in the ten communities within Deerfield and Highland Park High School District 113 and Lake Forest Community High School District 115. CBO identifies high-achieving but under resourced young people who, without support, would likely forgo post-secondary education and assists them in applying to and completing college. CBO goals are achieved through a program of one-to-one mentoring between volunteers and scholars. Additional aid provided by CBO includes tutoring, training services, laptop computers, and up to $4,000 per year in financial support. Learn more at http://cbo4success.org.
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