SLS: Connect Alder Kids & PSU Mentors: Become a 2024-25 MAPS Mentor Team Lead!

Are you passionate about education, youth mentorship, and supporting a team of PSU students working with kindergarten - 3rd graders? Step up as a MAPS Mentor Team Lead for the 2024-2025 school year -- and gain a $600/term leadership scholarship* in the process!

Welcome to the application for the MAPS Team Lead position. The Student Community Engagement Office is seeking enthusiastic applicants to join our MAPS mentor team as a "Team Lead" to support and lead a team of peers in one-on-one mentorship of Alder Elementary school youth, serving as in class support and "college lunch buddies"!

The information you provide in this application will be useful for the Student Community Engagement Center in selecting Team Leads for the 2024-2025 academic year. Please read through the position details below and provide as much information as possible in your application.

About the MAPS Program & the Team Lead Role:

Since 2010-2011, Portland State has partnered with Together We Are Greater Than and Alder Elementary to match college student mentors with elementary students. Alder Elementary School has a large population of students who face economic barriers in a diverse multilingual and multicultural area. MAPS aims to strengthen and cultivate students’ aspirations for future career and/or university achievement at an early age. In addition to helping mentees through one-on-one support in the classroom, mentors build strong relationships with their mentees through engaging, fun conversations and activities around college, higher education, and careers as weekly lunchtime “college buddies.” Transportation is provided from the PSU campus by student staff and/or leads. The MAPS program is hosted by the Student Community Engagement Center, a hub for civic engagement at Portland State University.

Regular student mentors are oriented and trained during Fall term and, starting in January, meet with their elementary-age mentees for two terms (Winter & Spring). Mentor sessions take place once a week both in the classroom and 1:1 during the lunch hour, on Tuesdays or Wednesdays between 9:30 - 2:00pm (exact timeframe TBD but it will fall within those hours). Mentors serve as role models, help in the classroom, engage their mentees in conversation and activities, support students in developing confidence and social skills, and talk about what it means to go to college and think about future careers. 

Mentor Team Leads serve for all three terms (Fall, Winter, Spring) to help recruit, onboard, train, and then support their student mentor teams, in addition to serving as a mentor themselves.

Learn more about the MAPS program here: https://www.pdx.edu/student-community-engagement/maps-mentorship-program

• Assisting the Student Community Engagement Center staff with coordination of the MAPS program each academic term
• Assisting in the recruitment and orientation/training of MAPS mentors
• Supporting marketing and social media coordination for the program
• Providing leadership support and mentorship for MAPS mentors during weekly mentor meetings
• Attending weekly MAPS sessions with mentors & serve as a mentor yourself (Mentor sessions will take place between 9:30am - 2:00pm on Tuesdays & Wednesdays -- each mentor team lead is responsible for leading a weekly group on one of those days)
• Attending weekly organizational planning meetings with Student Coordinator and other Team Lead
• Developing and/or implement curriculum for use in the classroom
• Assisting in the planning and preparation for Fall & Spring Alder College Day events
• Serving as a driver to transport student mentors from PSU to Alder and back on your day as a team lead (transportation is provided via Zipcar; as a lead, you will get certified as a zipcar driver to be able to drive a zipcar to Alder each week)

• Be 21 or older -- this is a requirement for being able to drive the zipcar carpool.
• Be an undergraduate with over a 2.5 Portland State GPA and plan to take 6 credits per term or be a graduate student with over a 3.0 Portland State GPA and plan to take 5 credits per term.
• Have prior experience with mentoring and/or supporting youth education and development in a school, camp, afterschool, or mentorship setting
• Ability to communicate effectively with faculty/staff, community partners, and peers
• Desire to develop leadership skills and support your peers during training and weekly mentor meetings
• Willingness to attend all required trainings, orientations and organizational meetings
• Available for weekly organizational planning meetings
• Ability to enroll in a Leadership Fellows Cohort to be eligible for quarterly $600 Leadership Award (see Leadership Fellows description below)
• Have a valid driver's license and the willingness to get certified as a Zipcar driver to take student mentors to Alder and back once a week.
• Helpful: Spanish-language proficiency, as Alder Elementary has a Spanish immersion program

Eligibility for the quarterly Educational Leadership & Service Award (ELSA):

• In order to receive $600 ELSA scholarship each term, MAPS Team Leads with the Student Community Engagement Center must participate in weekly Student Leaders for Service (SLS) leadership classes and fulfill responsibilities of the SLS program (includes take-home reflection assignments each term)

• SLS classes meet seven Fridays each term from 10:30am - 12:30pm and bring student leaders together to focus, reflect, and apply leadership skills and knowledge in the context of social change, collaboration, service, and social justice. Members of Student Leaders for Service can only miss two meetings per term to remain eligible for the ELSA award.

• The ELSA offers a $600 scholarship per term and students have the option to enroll in three 400-level elective credits per term (up to 6 credits total).

To apply, press the green Registration button on the upper right hand corner of this page. 

For more information or questions, please email volunteer@pdx.edu or check out the MAPS Mentorship page on our website: https://www.pdx.edu/student-community-engagement/maps-mentorship-program