Dear Class of 1979,
It was great to see many of you at reunions, especially at our class dinner where President Chris Eisgruber announced the launch of our class legacy mentoring program “FLi Tigers & ‘79 Friends.” We created this program in partnership with the Scholars Institute Fellows Program (SIFP), Princeton’s four-year scholars’ program for first-generation and/or lower-income (Fli) students. For those who didn't attend reunions or our class dinner, Chris spoke with his customary enthusiasm about the Class of 1979’s commitment to Princeton through various activities, including this groundbreaking alumni mentoring program. Chris encouraged our class to help these talented students from all backgrounds pursue their dreams through our mentoring, which can serve as an example for all alumni.
"FLi Tigers & '79 Friends" is a six-week mentoring program, which will run from June 17th through July 26th. It is now open to enrollment through an online platform and you can sign up here to complete a brief survey that will be used to match you with a FLi Princeton student. This online mentoring platform was developed specifically for Princeton to provide structured mentoring guidance with flexibility to adapt to the individual users’ needs & preferences.
Please note that these valuable conversations don’t have to be in person--you can connect via phone, text, email, or video chat! You and your mentee can choose the mentoring options that work best for you. Moreover, you don't need to be First Gen and/or Low Income to be a great mentor--just a friend of Fli students!
Please see below for more information on how the program works. If you decide to sign up, Mentor Collective, the online platform provider, will email you with more information. If you have questions in the meantime, do not hesitate to reach out to Dr. Andy Hakim (ahakim@princeton.edu), SIFP Faculty Associate for Outreach and Professional Development or you can contact Mentor Collective directly.
Thank you for considering this opportunity to volunteer in launching our class project and for supporting such talented young students.
Tony Rodríguez ‘79
Director, FLi Tigers & ‘79 Friends
Fli Tigers & ‘79 Friends Mentorship Program
As most of us know, navigating college and figuring out what you want to do post-graduation can be challenging for any student. For First Generation and/or lower-income (fli) students who may be the first person in their family to graduate from college, this can be especially daunting. As a mentor you can make a real difference in the lives of your fellow Tigers, and help to shape the next generation of our country’s leaders.
Here’s how FLI Tigers & ‘79 Friends works:
• | Students and Mentors complete a survey about themselves and their backgrounds. |
• | Mentor Collective matches students and mentors based on similar interests and backgrounds, or what’s important to them. |
• | The program will start on June 17 and run for 6 weeks. The expectation is that mentors and mentees have two substantive conversations during this time, as well as an initial goal-setting conversation. |
• | You will complete an online orientation module, which will help provide you with important information and resources that can be useful in your mentorship. |
• | Once you and your mentee are matched, you will be put in an anonymous SMS thread with your mentee that you can use to start communicating (assuming you provided a cell number during registration). |
• | After this initial conversation, you and your mentee can work out when/how it works best for you to speak (in person/on the phone/skype etc.) |
• | We simply ask that you use the platform to log conversations and share your experience with the program. You will be prompted with reminders on when and how to share this information with us! |
Click here to register and complete your survey