Aaron Berkowitz – General Assignment Reporter
With the importance of students obtaining a college education increasing more each year, the need for mentors to assist them in the application process and to offer them guidance in their future in endeavors becomes equally significant, said Jordy Padilla, 20, junior civil engineering major at UNH and co-founder of the New Haven REACH.
Padilla said he was one of the three Wilbur Cross students that decided to create a program that bettered the chances of students being successful in and after college in December 2011. According to Padilla, over the past three years the program has since evolved tremendously and their vision to create a more educated society is becoming clearer.
“New Haven REACH was designed by and for the kids,” said Padilla. “It’s all about the kids. They are the future and that’s who we are all here for.”
“I grew up in New Haven, grew up in Fair Haven Heights,” said Devin Mahoney, 19, President of New Haven REACH. “I saw a lot of kids who were smart enough to go to college and had good enough grades to go to college, but were misinformed about the process.”
Mahoney said she aspires to improve a student’s chance of succeeding by instilling them with a genuine interest in their education and showing them they are capable of achieving more than they thought.
New Haven REACH now has 65 students signed up with their program for the year and the number continues to grow, said Padilla. The program is designed to cater to each individual’s strong suits and ambitions by assigning them with a mentor who shares advice with them (the mentee) about the college experience.
“We are younger so we are able to relate more with the kids,” said Mahoney. “We’re trying to do extensive outreach with students now and really try to figure out what’s going on with each one of them; like why they don’t want to go to college. We then encourage them to do so in a way that’s not as intimidating as what they are used to hearing.”
College and high school students are encouraged to get involved with the program in an effort to improve the future of not only New Haven, but the entire nation.
Julio Baldillo, 19, SCSU liaison for New Haven REACH, said he would like students to check out how they can get involved because their team values the collaboration of anyone’s ideas who wants to improve the chances of someone succeeding in life.
“REACH is a pretty powerful program,” said Baldillo. “Being that it’s a student-run organization we are able to better relay our experiences with the students we take on. When you’re a senior in high school everyone has issues applying for college that they wished they had received help with. Our mentors provide this help to those still in high school in order to make the college process easier for them.”
According to Padilla, students can choose to get involved with REACH by visiting their website, www.newhavenreach.com, and selecting the “get involved” tab. Padilla and Mahoney said there are mentor and recruiter positions available for students to obtain so they should apply in order to give a contribute something positive to the community.
“We want New Haven REACH to build a greater visibility,” said Mahoney. “We want to continue to recruit new volunteers so that this program can live on even after we graduate.”
“We always could use more help,” said Padilla. “I’m undocumented. When we started this organization we wanted to help students who face the same or a similar struggle as I did. Such as applying to and paying for college.”
Padilla said REACH collaborates with programs that are striving towards the same goals as they are such as New Haven Promise and CT Students for a Dream.
“Throughout these few years we have been around we have grown so much,” said Padilla. “We had 75 volunteers last semester, 65 students who signed up with us, and a board that is so excited. Things are going to continue to go well for us and over the course of the next few years there is no telling what we can do at REACH.”
