January is National Mentoring Month, an acknowledgment of the powerful impact that mentoring relationships provide young people as they pursue their goals and transition into adulthood. At Baltimore City Public Schools, we celebrate mentors every day. Positive adult role models provide students with the patience, understanding, and care needed to help students achieve academic success, social-emotional well-being, and post-secondary readiness.
Tanipa Thomas served as an Educational Specialist for City Schools when she began mentoring students through Future Ready!, the City Schools program that pairs middle and high school students with district staff mentors in small groups of 2–4 students. Grounded in developmental relationship best practices, the program aims to build student engagement, soft skills (such as networking, public speaking, self-efficacy), and college/career readiness through consistent, trust-based interactions.
The mentoring experience confirmed for Ms. Thomas the positive impact of intentional relationships with students. The pride in her voice is obvious as she talks about “showing up for kids.”
“One of my mentees had attendance issues, was eating unhealthy foods, and was failing one or more courses,” she says. “We connected and he realized that I wanted him to be successful. He knew he could always reach out to me for support. He knew he had a trusted adult. How he approached school changed. He’s now a senior with all As in his classes. He has a clear goal - to be in the Armed forces.”
Ms. Thomas, now an assistant principal at Carver Vocational-Technical High School, notes, “it's these types of interactions that we as educators need to provide. It's not extra work; these are the things that matter—to reach kids on a young adult level. That’s when we can see the difference we’re making.”
Kirred Marcano-Briscoe, a Web and Digital Media Specialist at City Schools, served as a Future Ready! mentor to students at Booker T. Washington Middle School and then at Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School (Mervo). Reflecting on her service experience, she realized that “it only takes one person to see something in you that you don’t see in yourself. Students appreciate the attention and being able to express what they really want to say.
“I mentored one student who was chronically absent," recalls Marcano-Briscoe. “We talked about why he wasn’t coming to school regularly, and I helped him understand the expectation of regular and consistent attendance. The more we worked together, the better equipped he became to recognize what he was going through and explore different tactics to overcome barriers to attendance.”
At Mervo, Mrs. Marcano-Briscoe helped five freshman girls begin thinking about college and career plans. She guided conversations about how each of them defined success and how they envisioned their lives as adults. “They dug deep. They saw the unique talents that would help them in the future.”
Future Ready! is one of the many options that facilitate and support meaningful connections between students and adults. City Schools’ Mentoring and Adult Relationships (MAR) initiative engages 37 prospective mentoring programs, serving 4,854 students with 985 trained mentors, through a partnership-leveraged hub model. Three regional Hub Specialists (East, West, and South) coordinate relationships with diverse corporate, university, and community partners, achieving a cost-effective scale.
iMentor Baltimore partners with Baltimore City high schools to match students with a dedicated mentor and deliver a structured, in-class curriculum, focused on career exposure, relationship building, and post-secondary access and transition. The nonprofit organization currently partners with three schools: Baltimore Design School, City Neighbors High School, and the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women. Every 11th and 12th-grade student is matched with a mentor, providing individualized support and additional human capital to partner schools.
iMentor Baltimore adults help students stay academically engaged, explore career options and post-secondary pathways, develop career goals, build and grow career connections and engage in self-advocacy. Mentors also help students develop and strengthen financial literacy and habits, supporting them in identifying how to pay for higher education, minimize debt, review financial aid requirements, establish personal budgets, and more.
Last year, iMentor Baltimore worked with more than 200 students. Ninety-one percent of these students developed college aspirations aligned with their career and life ambitions; 83% applied to college, and 86% of those who applied were accepted.
One example of the impact of iMentor relationships is Nykia’s journey to college and how she landed a full ride to Stevenson University.
Nykia first met Essence, her adult mentor, during her junior year at Baltimore Design School. A key element in building their relationship, Essence says, was to listen to whatever was on Nykia’s mind, whether it was related to school or her personal life. The pair connected on things they had in common.
Nykia always knew she wanted to go to college, but there were aspects of college life that she couldn’t learn through research, so she turned to her mentor for guidance. “Essence gave me a lot of advice on how college might go and how certain things might not go the way I want,” she said. “I could count on and trust her.”
“I felt good about being a sounding board,” said Essence.
Based on her conversations with Essence, Nykia decided to attend Stevenson University, but she faced the challenge of finding a way to pay for it. She once again turned to Essence to find a solution together. “We overcame that by applying for more scholarships, talking about state aid, and talking to the schools. That’s how I got a full ride to Stevenson,” Nykia says. She was able to rely on her mentor because of the trust they built throughout their relationship.
Says Mrs. Marcano-Briscoe, "working with students showed me how even a little bit of support can help people. We had a lot in common, as human beings. It’s rewarding to have a unique and important role in a student’s life and know that you are helping shape that life.”
Baltimore City Public Schools students are eager for the support of adult mentors! Visit our mentoring webpage to learn more about how you can make a difference.