What is the Academic Mentoring Program?

At SAVE, college and career exploration starts early.

Through our Academic Mentoring Program (AMP), elementary students participate in 16 campus visits throughout the year, where they work with college mentors, explore careers and majors, practice goal-setting, and experience what college can look like firsthand.

But AMP isn't just about talking to students about their futures, rather, we give them opportunities to experience different possibilities.

Throughout the year, students participate in activities designed around a variety of career fields and real-world skills. They might take part in an EMT simulation, construct a bridge, create a book cover through graphic design, explore engineering through cup stacking, design a mural, or pitch their own business through a Shark Tank-style activity.

Students also participate in activities that build skills they will need well beyond elementary school, including communication, collaboration, critical thinking, patience, relationship-building, and future planning. Activities such as debate, creating a schedule, designing a college dorm, College Jeopardy, creating a “Future Self” comic book, scholarship scavenger hunts, and vision boards give students opportunities to think about who they are and who they want to become.

The college campus experience is made even more meaningful through relationships with college student mentors. During AMP sessions, students interact with mentors who participate alongside them, answer questions, share their own educational experiences, and encourage students to be curious about what comes next.The goal? To help students discover their interests, recognize their strengths, and begin seeing themselves in future careers and college environments.

Our programming follows a progression throughout the year, beginning with students getting to know SAVE and their mentors and moving into college and goal-setting, soft skills, career exploration, trades and community college, goal check-ins, and reflection. Students also have opportunities to explore new campuses and continue building their understanding of different educational pathways.

Whether a student is designing a book cover, building a bridge, creating a business pitch, or stepping onto a college campus for the first time, every experience is another opportunity to ask, “Could this be my future?”

That's AMP.