Allyson Berri, University of Utah
The U.S. resettles refugees, and Utah is one of the states where refugees from various communities are resettled. Over 50% of refugees are youth under the age of 18 years. These youth attend public schools and should identify higher education as an option as they graduate from high school. Unfortunately, many students with refugee backgrounds do not have any role models and/or mentors to assist them in moving toward a college education. Mentoring has been suggested as a method that helps many vulnerable populations in the U.S. Although mentoring has been used to help other economically disadvantaged populations, mentoring has yet to be provided to refugee youth populations. This study sought to pair refugee youth between the ages of 10-13 with undergraduate student mentors from the University of Utah, with the objective of pairing refugee youth with college-age role models. Data from the evaluation of this project will be presented highlighting the strengths and challenges for developing this type of mentoring program.