MENTORING
Soccer Scholars Foundation matches qualified mentors who share a passion for assisting young athletes in achieving their athletic, academic and personal life goals.
We believe in the power of personal relationships to create life-long connections that expose student-athletes and Mentors alike to new ideas, aspirations, and opportunities. Our mentoring model is designed to work in collaboration with schools, youth groups and teams to enable mentors to effectively advance a young person’s ambitions for college and life.
SSF matches students with same-gender Mentors for three to four years, depending on the term of their Scholarship. SSF involves students and mentors in the process of matching by allowing them to select the qualities that would be most helpful to them in, and as, a mentor. Once matched, mentors and students exchange emails, calls and meet regularly throughout the year.
UNIQUE BENEFITS OF MENTORING
If two students, one from a higher-income family and one from a low-income family, are equally academically prepared for college, but the student from a higher-income background has a 40% greater likelihood of earning a bachelor's degree, what are the other key factors to success? In fact, research¹ shows that multiple "non-classroom," experiential factors drive and support college readiness and success:
Creating a tangible link between education and career: high school students who believe that a college education is necessary for their career are 6x more likely to earn their college degree.
Peer expectations: students are 4x more likely to enroll in college if a majority of their friends plan to do the same.
Understanding financial aid: students who believe they can afford a degree have an improved chance of graduating college.
Building social capital skills
Developing a greater capacity for resilience
Communication and critical thinking skills