For the third year, Project MALES is offering undergraduate mentors at the
University of Texas at Austin the opportunity to enroll in the Instructing Males through Peer Advising Course IMPACT (LA 113P IMPACT). The fall 2017 class, introduces UT Austin undergraduates to the K-12 experiences of Latino males, the critical transitions in
the Latina/o educational pipeline, Latino male masculinities in middle school, and successful Latino male role models across the educational spectrum. This course, provides our undergraduate students the
training and opportunity to continue working with young middle and high school
males of color. This year, we are also introducing critical mentoring and the role it plays in the relationships mentors build with boys and young men of color. In addition, mentoring will include discussions and activities focused on the four pillars of brotherhood, leadership, college and career readiness, and health & wellness.
Similar to the Fall, the spring semester course Impacting Males through
Mentoring (IMM), focuses on Latinos and higher education, providing students topics that relate to the plight of Latino students in higher education, frameworks used to explain the Latino/a achievement gap, and undocumented students in higher education, to name a few. Focusing on the different experiences of Latino males in the fall and spring, K-12 and higher education respectively, allows us to provide undergraduate students the ability to earn two credits, instead of one as we did in the past.
This semester, we are offering two sections Monday evenings from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM and 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM. The course is taught by our Project MALES Mentoring staff made up of second year master’s students Enrique Aguayo and Rodrigo Aguayo, and incoming first-year master students, Edgar Fidel Lopez, Armando Tellez, and Danielle Marie Zaragoza. We are looking forward to another successful academic year, stay tuned for regular updates on our Project MALES Student Mentoring Program events and activities.