High school students, could you use some help thinking about your future, or even just surviving high school? Of course you could! Join Rural eMentoring BC and talk it over with a REAL PERSON who actually cares about you! Our mentors are real-life BC college and university students who volunteer their time to give personalized help to students like you.
Why join this program?
Video: Why ReMBC?
A mentor can help with:
- Academic or social issues you might be having
- Figuring out what to do after high school graduation
- Advice about applying to college or university
- Figuring out what jobs and careers suit you best
- Learning what “adulting” in the real world is actually like
Or they can just be a friendly person who can lend you an ear when you need it most.
Learn more about why you should have a mentor: Why mentoring
Who can benefit from this program?
- Students who need help figuring out what’s next
Share your strengths and passions with your mentor and they can help you find your path forward. Since your mentor is someone from outside your community, they can provide impartial, unbiased and non-judgmental advice.
- Students who have an educational or career path in mind, but don’t know how to get there
The good news is that everyone – including your mentor – has been there. Your mentor made it through successfully, so they can be your personal guide to finding a path that works for YOU, without pressuring you to be someone you’re not.
- Students who have it all figured out, but want to know what to expect
Avoid culture shock, the freshman 15, and spending all your money on boba by preparing ahead of time. Your mentor can share how to succeed as a college/university student, including explaining what classes are like, how to make friends, where the best (and cheapest) food is, how to pay for school, and much, MUCH more.
- Students who want to meet new people or talk to someone outside their community
Don’t sleep on the importance of social skills! Most employers look for applicants who have experience communicating with people from many different backgrounds. Get that experience by talking to your mentor – they can help you with professionalism, writing and speaking.
- Students who just want someone to talk to
No matter if you need help with a problem in your life, or if you just want to tell someone how your day was, your mentor will always be there to listen without judgement and cheer you on.
How the program works
Video: High School Program Overview
Who are the mentors?
Mentors are college and university students studying in a variety of programs all throughout BC. They are volunteers who are eager to give career, education, and life advice. Many joined because they wish they had been in a program like this when they were in high school. Mentors are screened and trained prior to joining the program, and must pass a Criminal Record Check. Learn more about the mentor application process.
Matching
Fill out a questionnaire and the eMentoring staff will match you to a mentor with similar goals, interests or experiences.
Communication
Communicate with your match by writing messages through our safe and secure online platform, MentorCity. If you wish, you can arrange with the staff to set up video or phone calls as well. Messaging is not like instant messaging, so write messages to your mentor whenever you want and your mentor will respond within 3 days.
Communicate as often as you’d like, for as long as you’d like. We hope that you and your mentor become lifelong friends!
Not sure what to talk about?
You and your mentor can chat about anything you’d like. But we know it can be hard to know what to talk to a mentor about, so we created some activities for you and your mentor to work through together, in case you need them. These activities are optional, but we encourage you to try them out – they can help you organize your discussions and most people learn a lot from them. You can choose which activities to do and the order in which to do them.
About the activities
We created these activities in response to feedback from program participants (students, parents and educators) who said that they could use some guidance and focus in their conversations. We asked for their suggestions about what kinds of topics and activities to include and hired a rural teacher to create the activities and organize them activities into a series of units – the result was a curriculum that was custom-made for rural students. The entire curriculum is easily accessible on our online platform, so it’s easy to send messages to your mentor while you work through the units. We continue to work with educators and our program participants to update the curriculum and its activities on an ongoing basis – ensuring that our program continues to meet our users’ needs. View a summary of each of our units and their activities.
Get a sneak peek of the program
- Contact us at: e.mentoring@ubc.ca to get exclusive access to our demo mentee account. Experience what eMentoring is like: view the activities and explore how messaging on the MentorCity platform works.
- Or Contact us at: e.mentoring@ubc.ca to schedule a demo with one of our staff members.
Privacy, safety and security
Learn how we keep our participants safe and protect their privacy.
Eligibility
You must be:
- A BC resident living outside the metro-Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna areas. Basically, you can join as long as you don’t live in a huge city.
- In grades 7-12 (or recently graduated high school).
- If you are under 18, a teacher, parent or guardian must give consent for you to participate.
- Unsure if you are eligible? Ask us – we make exceptions all the time!
eMentoring for schools
Educators: learn more about how schools can take advantage of ReMBC’s offerings – all free of charge.