Mentors help teens get ready for college

A small group of UD students and new graduates spent two evenings a week this summer as volunteer mentors and academic coaches for 22 high school students preparing for their SATs.

The program at William Penn High School in New Castle, Del., operated through Let’s Get Ready, a nonprofit organization that began in New York City, and was also sponsored by the Valero refinery in Delaware City, Del., and the Colonial School District.

The program site director is Antonia De Luz, AS ’07, who majored in English with a minor in Black American Studies and is a member of AmeriCorps. She says helping the students get the resources they need to be successful after high school and encouraging them to continue their education is important to her.

“Let’s Get Ready helps deserving students get into college and gives college students an opportunity to teach in urban schools,”
De Luz says.

One of the summer volunteers, Daniel Becker, AS ’07, has a bachelor’s degree in English education and says William Penn High is like a second home to him. He graduated from there in 2003, tutored there during the summer and now is teaching freshman English. Let’s Get Ready is an “exceptional program,” he says, “and can help close the educational gap.”

Another volunteer, Skyler Sully, AS ’07, has a degree in computer science and
works for TechniData America as a programmer. He decided to volunteer
for Let’s Get Ready to benefit the students he coaches and says he believes that helping people find their goals and implementing them is important.

“I believe social responsibility takes more than monetary donations; donations of time weigh substantially more,” he says.

English major LaMar Gibson, AS ’09, says he volunteered for Let’s Get Ready to encourage students to take their education seriously and to understand how education applies to their lives. Besides helping students prepare for SATs, Gibson says he talked to the students about college and life after high school.

The Let’s Get Ready experience is an “opportunity to interact with a great group of students who have the potential to achieve a great deal,” Gibson says. “All they need is a small push in the right direction.”