VENTURA : Mentors Ease the Return to College

Students returning to college after a long absence are finding encouragement and emotional support in a mentor program launched this semester at Ventura College.

The program connects re-entry students--those who have disrupted their education for various reasons, usually family duties--with a Ventura College faculty or staff member. Mentors and students meet regularly to discuss concerns.

“Many of the students have to juggle family, work and school, and they often are single parents. That little extra encouragement can really go a long way,” said Lauri Moore, coordinator of the program offered through the college’s Re-entry/Women’s Center.

Moore, who was a re-entry student herself, said the program allows campus staff and faculty members to pass along the benefits they received from their own mentors. “It’s a real recycling of energy,” she said.

Inaugurated in January, the program serves 32 students ranging in age from 20 to their late 50s, Moore said. Enrollment is closed for this semester, the center is taking applications for the fall.

Lyn MacConnaire, the college’s vice president of instruction, is a mentor. Moore said MacConnaire accompanied a student to the campus bookstore--showing the student English and math textbooks--to assure her that coming back to school would not be too tough.

“It’s important for a student to know that there’s someone on campus who cares about them personally,” MacConnaire said. She said the program also helps her, because she sees the campus from a student’s point of view.

Besides the one-on-one mentor sessions, re-entry students can find support by attending weekly center workshops on topics such as procrastination, eating disorders, family planning and assertiveness. The center also offers ongoing support groups for stress reduction, gay and lesbian issues and co-dependency problems.

Moore said the college had a single-parent mentor group previously, but this is the first mentor program aimed specifically at re-entry students. Moore said she is seeking a federal grant to begin another program that would link these students with mentors in the community.