Teacher Bound will engage low-income, first generation Boston young people who express an interest in becoming educators. Teacher Bound will nurture and support students’ interest in education by providing excellent academic preparation and exposure to professions in education.

Description:
Teacher Bound is looking for mentors who are interested in supporting a 9th or 10th grader in making positive life choices. Mentors and mentees will meet at least once a week or a minimum of 5 hours per month. Mentors must be available for the months of January to June. They may support their mentee academically or just meet to hang out and talk.

This is an opportunity to have some fun with a great high school student while developing a significant relationship. Your relationship with this student will have a positive impact on the student’s present and future life choices.

Teacher Bound has been designed carefully to ensure that whether or not a student’s interest in becoming a educator endures throughout his/her high school years, each young person enrolled in Teacher Bound will gain academic skills and build motivation to enter and succeed in college, regardless of eventual major and chosen career.

Overall, Teacher Bound will be a comprehensive program for high school students to prepare them for college acceptance, admission, and academic excellence. Teacher Bound will offer:

•a way for students who are considering becoming teachers to be exposed to, and grapple with, compelling intellectual ideas surrounding teaching and learning in urban America
•an opportunity for students to meet and interact with faculty, experience college as an accessible and welcoming place for students of color, and see college as an opportunity within their reach
•an opportunity for students to be exposed to challenging college-level teaching and supervised field experiences with K-6 children in the BPS, while also working to improve their own critical thinking, analytical, and academic skills
•scholarship support for students who have successfully completed the program and applied to attend Wheelock College.

History:
Wheelock College was awarded a four-year Upward Bound TRIO grant in 2007 to provide early outreach, encouragement and support to 50 students from schools in the Boston area. Teacher Bound at Wheelock College is the only Upward Bound program in the country that was funded to also be a teacher development program for recruiting Boston Public Schools students to become educators in urban settings.

Upward Bound was established by special amendments to the Higher Education Act of 1965. It is a year-round program that provides multiple services to high school students which include but are not limited to—a six week summer residential program in which students live on campus while attending classes, a bridge program for students who have completed at least two summer sessions, and a nine-month tutoring service for students involved in the program. Services also include mentoring, cultural enrichment, and college application assistance. The first Upward Bound Program was established in 1967 at the University of Nevada-Reno campus. Since then, many other colleges and universities have joined Upward Bound to further support high school youth gain the skills and experience to succeed in college and beyond.

Contact people:

Chris Sumner, Program Director, (phone), (email) Jasmine Toussaint, Program Coordinator, (phone), (email) Trisha Mah, Administrative Assistant, (phone), (email)

Address:

200 The Riverway Boston, MA 02215 (See a map)