MiddCAM Seeks to Close Achievement Gap

MiddCAM is a new student organization that pairs a senior from Middlebury Union High School with a student from the College who acts as a mentor throughout the college admission process. Its goal is to prepare high school students for navigating the oft-daunting process of standardized testing, college essays and all else that comes with applying to colleges.

The high school works to identify students who have particular interest in college and the idea of a mentor. The organization’s philosophy underscores what a help guidance from someone with first-hand experience can be during a time that is simply overwhelming for many students.

A friend of Megan Ernst ’15 approached her in the summer of 2012 about starting a branch of a program based in Palo Alto called Phoenix Scholars. The success of Phoenix Scholars is apparent; they annually send dozens of their students to top-tier institutions around the country. That fall, Megan pitched the idea of opening a branch of Phoenix Scholars to the College.

Phoenix Scholars and MiddCAM have similar principles that revolve around mentorship throughout the college application process. A key distinction between the two organizations is that Phoenix Scholars imposes three demographic criteria — that a student must be a minority, low-income and a first-generation college student — out of which its students must satisfy two.

After demographic research of Addison County, Ernst found that such requirements would seriously limit the eligible number of students the College could work with. Ultimately, she decided to start a completely new program, MiddCAM, that would cater to the specific needs of the students through an involved one-on-one mentor. Through a mutual friend and shared interest Ernst teamed up with Jessica Kong ’15. They determined that financial aid could not be MiddCAM’s primary concern.

“We have expanded our focus to writing application essays, helping with college research and helping prepare them for every aspect of college.”

Mentors and mentees are often paired up randomly, Kong conceded.

“It’s hard to match based on academic interest because no one really knows what they want to study,” she said.

Though a perfect match is not always possible, the goal is for the relationship between mentor and mentee to be personalized. In all cases, a mentor will be a helpful resource with a fresh impression the college process.

Midd students understand the value of mentorship during application season, especially from a peer, rather than a trained expert. Caroline Guiot ’16 had a college counselor in high school, but does not hesitate in saying what a help it would have been to have a college student to talk to about the application process.

The value of such a mentor often proves irreplacable for certain students. “First generation kids don’t have the answers, partly because their parents never went to college or don’t speak enough English to get that kind of information,” MiddCAM Program Administrator Jessica Cheung ’15 said.

The inaugural MiddCAM mentors went to a training session hosted by the Middlebury College Admissions office, leaving the session remembering their own college search process, a flashback that will inform their mentoring strategies.

Middlebury Union played a big role in identifying students who would be matched with mentors. This year, mentors will meet mentees in early October, midway through the fall of their senior year. However, both Kong and Ernst feel confident that in subsequent years students will be paired with mentors in the second semester of junior year, just in time for the SAT. Once mentors and mentees are paired, they are granted a fair amount of autonomy.

There is no end date to the mentorship, nor is there a specific time commitment, but Ernst estimates that the face-to-face interaction will be about an hour per week along with editing and research that might not require meeting in person. Mentors cover the academic side of the process, navigating the Common App and its intricacies, but they will also be there for questions that students might have about what awaits them.

The mentor is responsible for establishing an agreeable schedule. Although the mentors have been briefed extensively, Guiot admits that this inaugural year could be tricky.

“We are starting a little late in the college process because it’s our first year, so we only have a couple months to work with our mentee,” she said.

A tenet of the mentorship is first-hand experience and Guiot acknowledges that she is not a professional but that her main job is “to share from my experience and help them stay on track.” The mentors will not be completely on their own in this process. Kong and Ernst, along with program administrators Cheung and Steven Zatarain ’15 will continually check in with mentors and offer an outlet for questions or concerns they may have.

MiddCAM exists to assure that students at an information disadvantage but have a demonstrated interest in attending college don’t fall through the cracks. MiddCAM is the first program of its kind to exist in the community — something Ernst describes as Middlebury’s “unique ability to provide mentors.”

Ernst and Kong have their eyes on the future and admit that in focusing on the senior year, “we don’t change the academic course of someone’s high school career.”

Looking forward, expansion seems imminent. Primarily, MiddCAM hopes to start with students in junior year, which would cover the bulk of standardized testing. While it is only MiddCAM’s first year, Ernst already has hopes to bring the program to other high schools in Addison County. For now, though, everyone involved is tremendously excited that the program is coming to life and that the first class of mentees and mentors are but days away from being matched up.