Mather is excited to have parterned with many amazing organizations around the Chicagoland area to provide additional academic, social-emotional, and post-secondary support to our students. This month we would like to profile a few who play a prominent role in the success of our students:
Northwestern University - Sciences Explorers
Science Explorers pairs scientists (Science Education Fellows) with small groups of freshmen biology students to help students build science skills and achieve academic success in the transition to high school.
Support and training include:
· A focus on long-term academic relationships. Fellows meet with students twice a week during the school day for the entire academic year
· Individualized attention that encourages student learning, growth, and confidence.
· Science activities that supplement the regular biology curriculum.
Support for science teachers, including tutoring students in biology.
WOW℠ (Working On Womanhood)
WOW is a multifaceted, school year-long group counseling and clinical mentoring program. WOW works to improve social-emotional competencies for girls in the 7th-12th grade exposed to traumatic stressors in high risk and under-resourced communities. Launched in 2011, the school-based program runs throughout the academic year and currently serves more than 1,750 students in 33 Chicago schools.
WOW focuses on issues relevant to teens' daily lives (e.g., daily conflict resolution, family issues, drug and alcohol addiction, and academic performance), all of which are broader community issues. Participation in WOW can successfully motivate young women to make positive choices and develop resilience assets such as self-efficacy, management of emotions and positive values that enable them to become self-sufficient adults who can positively impact their wider communities.
Impact & Outcomes Program Structure
The WOW program mainly consists of 50-minute group counseling sessions that meet on-site during the school day once per week. The program runs throughout the academic year. The WOW curriculum is informed by Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance Commitment Therapy, and Narrative Therapy
B.A.M.
Youth Guidance’s BAM® (Becoming a Man®) is BAM is a school-based group counseling program that guides young men in 7-12th grades to learn, internalize and practice social cognitive skills, make responsible decisions for their future and become positive members of their school and community. BAM integrates clinical theory and practice, men’s rites of passage work, and a dynamic approach to youth engagement. Each session is built around a lesson plan designed to develop a specific skill through stories, role-playing and group exercises. BAM students learn and practice impulse control, emotional self-regulation, recognition of social cues and interpreting intentions of others, raising aspirations for the future and developing a sense of personal responsibility and integrity. Students who participate in B.A.M. are more likely to stay in school, develop healthy relationships, and stay out of the juvenile justice system.
College Possible
College Possible supports students at Mather starting their junior year of High School until they graduate from college. This is our third year partnering at Mather and we are excited to continue working with students and the school community. We support students in the following ways. (Our programming is afterschool for 2 hours Monday-Thursday).
· Rigorous SAT preparation
· Applying to best fit colleges
· Financial aid support(FAFSA, FAFSA verification, and scholarships)
· Tech connected conversations and on-campus visits with students when in college
Support students with college enrollment tasks over the summer
Umoja
Mather High School is entering its second year of partnership with Umoja Student Development Corporation. After a successful year of Freshman and Senior Seminar classes, the program is expanding to include three sections of Sophomore Seminar. Seminar provides students an opportunity to develop positive academic behaviors set achievable goals for their future, work towards solving problems, and learn how to communicate with others effectively.
Our SEL Specialist from Umoja, Tim McEachran, works closely with the seminar teachers and the counseling department to help support the needs of students in 9th, 10th, and 12th grade. Umoja helps provide in-class SEL supports to freshman as they maneuver the transition to high school and works with seniors to develop self-management skills as they research and discover a post-secondary plan that they are proud of. In addition, Tim supports the Freshman on Track, Culture and Climate, and Post-Secondary Leadership Teams at Mather.
Youth Job Center
Youth Job Center is a non-profit organization that strives to assist students in finding meaningful post-secondary opportunities and careers that best fit their needs, skills, and interests. The YJC Career Advisor at Mather High School supports students both inside the classroom as well as during lunch and after school in one-on-one advising sessions. The YJC Career Advisor equips young people with the skills and confidence they need to get a job and pursue a career by assisting students in developing resumes, searching and applying to jobs and career-pathway programs, practicing interviewing, and hosting job fairs.
