Become a MAPS "Eco Explorer" After School Mentor at Alder Elementary! (2025-26 school year)

Listed by Student Community Engagement Center

About

Support and mentor elementary school youth through a new Wednesday afternoon afterschool club focused on garden and STEM education, as well as social/emotional learning! Join our MAPS "Eco-Explorers" mentor team for the 2025-26 school year. Mentors will be trained in November 2024 and the garden club will start up in Winter Term 2025.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Monday, November 3 @ 11:59pm

Alder Elementary School has a large population of students who face economic barriers in a diverse multilingual and multicultural area. Historically, MAPS mentors have worked to strengthen and cultivate students’ aspirations for future career and/or university achievement at an early age, in both English and Spanish. In the 2024-25 school year, we launched a new program, to provide mentorship and student support through the development of a bilingual “Eco Explorers” garden & STEM club at Alder Elementary, and we're excited to bring it back this year!

Mentors will be paired with small groups of students within the after school club and work in both larger and smaller group settings to help kids develop science, math, and social-emotional skills through hands-on activities both in and outside of the garden. Activities will be designed in English and Spanish, so that students in Alder's Spanish immersion program can participate in their native language. MAPS mentors have the option of working with students in English and/or Spanish. Other languages may also be helpful, as there are over 20 languages represented among Alder students!

Transportation is provided from the PSU campus by MAPS leads and/or student staff. The MAPS program is hosted by the Student Community Engagement Center, a hub for civic engagement at Portland State University, and through a long-time partnership with Greater Than at Alder Elementary (located at 17200 SE Alder St, Portland, OR 97233).

Mentor Primary Duties:

Travel to Alder once a week on Wednesday afternoons to help put on an after school garden club alongside other PSU students. Mentors will likely be paired with 1-3 elementary school students to focus building a mentoring relationship with through the garden club.
Support mentees' exploration of STEM and ecological learning through activities the garden club brings to the students each week.
Build a relationship with mentees and help them work on social-emotional skill-building
Expose mentee to concepts of higher education and career options through guided activities and informal conversation
Attend weekly pre-shift meetings with the other mentors and quarterly mentor development days
Assist in the planning and preparation for Fall & Spring Alder College Day events, if schedule allows.

Time Commitment:

"Eco Explorer" Mentor training will begin in November and take place over four sessions, three in Fall term and one at the start of Winter term. :
- - Fall Term:
    - Friday, November 7: 3-4:30pm @ PSU
    - Friday, November 14: 3-4:30pm @ PSU
    - Wednesday, November 19, 3-4:30 @ Alder Elementary (carpool option)
  - Winter Term:
    - Wednesday, January 7, 3-4:30, likely at @ Alder Elementary (carpool option)
Mentors will work together to start the garden club for the kids in the second week of Winter Term 2025. Mentors commit to one after school garden club session per week on Wednesday afternoons through both Winter and Spring terms. Commitment for both terms is highly preferred to provide continuity for the kids. Actual after school club commitment is 2-4:45 for those arriving directly there, but optional carpool will leave PSU each week at 1:15pm and return by 5:30pm.
Mentors will also meet for mentor meetings on Fridays at 3pm to learn and prep the activity for the following week.

Location / Transportation: Mentorship takes place at Alder Elementary School in East Portland (17200 SE Alder St.). Mentors will have the option of carpool transportation from the PSU campus through a partnership with Zipcar.

Mentoring Benefits:

Gain experience teaching and mentoring an elementary school student
Opportunity to learn and teach ecological, STEM, and social-emotional learning activities
Develop knowledge, and skills that you can use in your career and community work
Meet other passionate mentors and share insights.
Learn about ethical service and mentoring best practices

Qualifications:

Be enrolled at PSU for each academic term during the 2025-26 academic year
Maintain institutional an undergraduate GPA of 2.0 or a graduate GPA of 2.5
Be available on wednesday afternoons during both winter and spring terms
An interest in teaching and mentoring elementary-aged students using STEM and garden-based activities
Some prior experience working with and/or connecting with kids
Ability to model leadership, professional behavior, and be a strong role model
Helpful but not required: Ability to speak a language other than English; Spanish fluency is especially helpful, as over 50% of Alder families speak Spanish at home and 1/3 are in a Spanish Immersion program.

Applications are open from now through the early November 2025, but interviews will begin the week of October 20th, so early applications are encouraged!

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

The information you provide in this application will be used to assure that the MAPS program is pairing and recruiting the best mentors for our mentoring program. Please provide as much information as possible.

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

The MAPS Mentorship program is a program of the Student Community Engagement Center. The Student Community Engagement Center's mission is to provide robust and varied co-curricular opportunities for all students at Portland State to engage with the community and become catalysts for change.