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icouldbe.org exists to serve the most neglected students in our educational system. We harness the energy, expertise and experience of the thousands of other adults who are concerned about the future of these students. People from all walks of life and every profession, sign up to be volunteer online mentors with icouldbe.org and are paired with students who have an interest in their careers and experiences. Around this basic kernel of student interest and adult concern, we help to build relationships that reengage young people and help them to focus on career development and educational planning. The attention and advice that students receive in this context encourages them to stay in school.
Since 2000, we have brought online mentoring to more than ten thousand students at scores of America’s failing schools, in Native American Reservations and even to orphaned students in East Africa. Our volunteers expect us to connect them with the young people who need them most and we are constantly seeking partners who will help us to reach an ever broader population. At the beginning of the 2008-2009 academic year, we will become accessible to students who are blind or visually impaired. We will also explore using our program with university students, first in California and then in Africa and we will continue our partnership with UNICEF that has helped us to bring students from Ethiopia, Uganda, Germany and the USA into constructive dialogue with one another around health and development issues.
icouldbe.org supports the educational and career development of young people by providing each teenager with up to three caring professionals from a broad array of career fields who guide them either toward college or the world of work. We make sure that mentoring relationships take root and have direction by giving structure to the interactions of our community. Our original, online mentoring curriculum has more content than an individual student could complete in three years of participation. We offer units on time management and study habits, community service, applying for jobs, searching for the right college and managing credit, to name just a few. We have also developed a set of units specifically for middle school students that helps get them thinking about the strategies and attitudes that will help them into and through their high school years. Our close cooperation with the classroom teachers in the schools that we serve helps us to ensure that students remain motivated, active and well-behaved as they tackle our challenging assignments and learn from our volunteers.
icouldbe.org students meet and interact with mentors online, free from any distinctions pertaining to age, socioeconomic status, race, ability or disability. And since icouldbe.org is a leader in creating safe online learning environments, members of the community can rest assured that they will be respected and treated appropriately. All of this combines to ensure that icouldbe.org is poised to benefit and assist underserved young people from all over the world.
Learn more about icouldbe.org
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