High school students get taste of college via e-mail mentors

Honors and Scholars Center initiative encourages education beyond high school

Ohio State students are combining college life lessons with discussions of literary classics as part of an outreach program linking them with e-mail pen pals at a Columbus high school.

The program not only encourages high school students to get comfortable with technology, but also paves the way for further education, said David Strauss, associate director of Honors and Scholars co-curricular programs at Ohio State.

"We want them to look at postsecondary education," Strauss said. "While that may not be a four-year college like Ohio State, it could be enrollment in a program like DeVry or Columbus State (Community College)."

The South High Urban Academy Mentoring Program partners the University Honors and Scholars Center and the Department of African American and African Studies Community Extension Center.

The mentoring program began last year and matched approximately 45 Ohio State students with students in advanced English classes at South, Strauss said. The mentoring involved regular e-mail correspondence that focused on college preparation, college life and career exploration.

It also included a couple of social get-togethers, such as a basketball game at South and a hockey game at Ohio State. But while the e-mail pairings went smoothly, arranging social outings wasn't quite as easy.

"You might not be able to get everybody together for a hockey game at 7 p.m. on a Friday night, but everybody has access to a computer and e-mail," Strauss said. "And that's a medium we can't ignore.

"Last year was a 'learning as we go' year, but some really good discussions between the students took place," Strauss said.

This school year, the mentoring program will include an academic component.

"Beyond the interaction and mentoring established last year, we wanted to link a common academic experience," Strauss said. A $1,500 University Outreach and Engagement grant will help purchase literary classics that the high school and college students will read and then discuss together via e-mail, he said.

"Rather than just dialoging with a teacher, they're dialoging with a college student," Strauss said.

Third-year Ohio State student Libby Camden participated in the South High mentoring program last year and will participate again this year. She said the weekly e-mail communication added a new dimension to the mentee-mentor relationship.

"When we did have the opportunity to meet, it wasn't so awkward because we had been able to learn about each other through the e-mails," Camden said.

She said her participation in the honors peer mentor program -- designed to help incoming honors students -- for the past two years helped her determine what kinds of questions to ask and how to stimulate an e-mail conversation.

"I thought the things that my mentee wanted to know about were really interesting; it seemed like all she wanted to do was find some common ground," Camden said. "She would consistently ask about what types of things I did in high school and how things were different for me in college."

She said she thinks that the program does make an impact.

"Anytime that you are willing to share a part of your life with someone else, you make an impact, and that's what this program asked us to do, to share our lives and experiences with someone with an open mind and an open heart," Camden said.

And the timing is right for high school juniors and seniors contemplating college choices, said Mickie Sebenoler, advanced English teacher at South.

Sebenoler said the relationship with Ohio State enhances other efforts at South, such as college preparatory and advanced placement classes, and internships that help juniors and seniors explore career choices.

"Our plan is to prepare students for a successful future and the best way to do that is through higher education," Sebenoler said.

She said that approximately 66 percent of the 1999 graduating class at South enrolled in higher education.

Strauss said he discovered outreach and engagement is relatively inexpensive -- primarily costing staff time to coordinate the effort.

"The real foundation of the program doesn't cost anything," he said. "What it costs is bringing their students and our students together."

University launches Buckeye Net News

Ohio State's Office of University Relations has kicked off a new weekly electronic news service for students. Each week during the quarters, students will receive an e-mail message featuring important University headlines, a calendar of each week's events, updates from the administration and more.

Buckeye Net News will be delivered to the University e-mail addresses of more than 55,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students on the University's Columbus and regional campuses.

The newsletter will allow the University to utilize available technology to quickly communicate messages about academics, diversity, service opportunities and research breakthroughs at Ohio State. In addition to the academic underpinnings, the messages also include news about campus events and activities that enhance the student experience, and important updates from the administration about the implementation of the University's Academic Plan, a blueprint for Ohio State's future. Other useful features will include health and wellness tips, safety information and fun trivia about the University.

Buckeye Net News is patterned after OSU Today, the daily electronic message to more than 15,000 Ohio State faculty and staff.

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