In the academic year 2017-2018 the Project MALES Student Mentoring Program expanded to four new schools total: Eastside Memorial Early College High School and Burnet Middle School in Austin ISD, Manor Middle School in Manor ISD and KIPP Brave High School. The two expansion schools in AISD for 2017-2018 puts the Project MALES total to 10 schools within the district made up of five early college high schools and five middle schools. By adding Eastside Memorial ECHS, Project MALES has been able to work with their senior class of 2018 as they transition from high school to college. In future years, the Project MALES Student Mentoring Program will be able to follow students from Martin Middle School (which is a school already served by Project MALES for over two academic years) to Eastside Memorial effectively supporting students as they transition through the K-12 educational pipeline. A similar structure will also aid the efforts of mentoring at Burnet Middle School as they transition to Lanier ECHS (another school served by Project MALES for over five academic years).
This year with expansion to KIPP Brave High School and Manor Middle School, Project MALES has expanded beyond the Austin Independent School District. This expansion has helped the program grow by adding more graduate assistants and undergraduates to the Project MALES Student Mentoring Program. Due to Manor ISD’s current push for mentors with their Mentor Manor program, which is closely aligned with the Project MALES mission, we not only have provided mentoring services but presented together at conferences. One of these conferences was in San Antonio at the UTSA Texas Mentoring Summit, covering the topic of Trauma Informed Mentoring. Our other new addition, KIPP Brave High School, opened its campus in 2016. We partnered with KIPP Brave the following year to work with a group of their sophomore students. Moving forward, Project MALES hopes to follow these students at KIPP Brave High School, as their first graduating class in the year 2020. In the 2018-2019 academic year, the Project MALES Student Mentoring Program will look to expand into both Del Valle ISD and Round Rock ISD bringing the total number of Austin area schools served to over 15.
