VGCC receives Male Mentoring grant

Vance-Granville Community College is one of several North Carolina community colleges that recently received state funding to continue a program geared toward supporting the educational and professional aspirations of male students. VGCC was awarded a competitive grant worth $20,500 from the N.C. Community College System’s Minority Male Mentoring Program (3MP). The college has applied for and received annual funding for the mentoring program for several years. The program is supported by appropriations from the N.C. General Assembly and by a federal College Access Challenge Grant.

 

3MP involves an active, intensive, and engaging process of academic coaching and case management. The goals of the program are to keep participating students in school, to increase their graduation rate and to increase their rate of transferring to four-year colleges and universities. Recently, the program has adopted a model of “coaching,” which allows students to have one-on-one conversations with coaches (college faculty and staff members) who help them set academic goals and make the most of advising and tutoring services. A coach’s role is to provide structure, foundation, and support, so that students can begin to achieve the results they want on their own. Students in the program receive training in leadership and character building, academic skills, financial aid literacy, and career exploration. Students also have opportunities to visit four-year colleges and universities and to hear from presenters who offer college transfer information during monthly campus meetings. While all currently-enrolled students are welcome to participate in the activities of the mentoring program, the emphasis is on minority males in particular. Meetings and other events are regularly held at both VGCC’s Main Campus and the Franklin County Campus.

 

According to Dr. Tolokun Omokunde, male mentoring coordinator at the college, VGCC has been applauded by state officials for boasting an 85% retention rate of participants from semester to semester. “We were asked to share best practices at a recent forum with other community colleges that received the grant this year at Wake Tech,” Omokunde said. The practices, he noted, included soliciting input from college counselors/advisors, reaching out to student-athletes, developing a coaching team of faculty, participating at new student orientation sessions, using a “hands-on, face-to-face approach,” partnering with other VGCC student organizations like Phi Beta Lambda and the Student Government Association, and forming a Male Mentoring Club. Students in the club have elected officers to serve during the 2013-2014 academic year and represent their group at special events. Officers include president David Henry of Macon, first vice president Royston Brown, Jr. of Henderson, second vice president Jordan Bunting of Macon, athletics liaison Tyriek Branch of Henderson, and community liaison Lynn Henderson of Henderson. Branch, Bunting and Henry are enrolled in VGCC’s College Transfer program , while Brown is a Business Administration major.

 

For more information on VGCC’s mentoring program, contact Dr. Tolokun Omokunde at (252) 738-3205 .

 

Above: On first row, from left: VGCC Academic & Career Pathways advisor Anthony Pope, mentoring program students Tyriek Branch of Henderson, Lynn Henderson of Henderson, Jalen Thrower of Williamsboro and mentoring program coordinator Dr. Tolokun Omokunde; on second row, from left: students Royston O. Brown, Jr. of Henderson, David Henry of Macon, and Jordan Bunting of Macon; on third (top) row, from left: student Micheal Williams of Henderson, counselor Reggie Bullock, student Harold Ragland of Oxford and Academic Skills Center coordinator Jason Snelling.  (VGCC photo)