The Urban League of Northwest Indiana received a $10,000 grant from the Porter County United Way to support the College Readiness program for 9th graders at Portage High School. Eleven sophomores returning from last year’s program will be serving as peer mentors to this year’s twenty-four freshmen. Weekly sessions, with the Urban League’s Young Professionals as well as AmeriCorps volunteers will be conducted to enhance skills for academic success. Workshops will include covering topics such as: graduation requirements, essay/application writing, study skills, time management, interpersonal and oratory communication, financial literacy, life skills strategies, cultural and ethnic sensitivity, community service and college visits to both Ivy Tech and Valparaiso University.
2015 College Readiness participants: Marvin Brown, Sienna Cerros, Justin Crawford, Ariana Delgado, Fernando Flores, Zachary Gertzen, Isabelle Hammerstein, Nathan Hansen, Destiny Henderson, Eric Kimbrough, Elyssia Logsdon, Lyric McKanders, Gregory Milledge, Darius Owens, Aliyah Quarles, Zachary Rasinski, Noah Ringer, Sean Sanders, Aleacia Sexton, Jacob Torres, Angelo Turner, Tyler Volom, Jose Zamora, and Alexander Zepeda
Peer Mentors from the 2014 College Readiness program: Trayvion Barber, Natalie Benson, Elijah Gauldin, David Herrod, Kiara Holder, Kyle Jackson, Mya Velazquez, and Jordyn Windsor
