The Joy of Changing a Life [] Jóvenes Adelante

Published February 10, 2023

By: Nora Weaver

As you may know, service volunteering significantly improves life satisfaction, happiness and leads to better physical health.

Our Jóvenes Adelante Mentors comment on this phenomenon:

​”JA Mentoring has been my favorite experience since I’ve lived in Mexico. Besides traveling the world, NOTHING beats this experience! Mentoring makes me feel a part of the “real” Mexico. Whenever I’m driving home from a get together with my student and their family​​​, I have a light-hearted feeling and the certainty that “this is the real deal​!​” I have always felt welcomed into my students’ families in a way I never expected or imagined.” Beryl Silverthorne

“One of the highlights of my 2022 will be my experience as a mentor and my new friendship with a special young man. Very few things that I could be doing at this point in my life are as rewarding or as enjoyable as watching a young person assume their place in the world and to start to make their contribution to their community. SMA is lucky to have this young man as part of their community and I am lucky to have him as part of my life.” Chip Swab

“Mentoring gives me an opportunity to see and help form a bright future for our students and our world! I enjoy every moment with my student for it keeps me sharp as well as reflective. I feel honored to be entrusted with this service. Another great privilege is seeing our students’ lives​ from the inside​. Most of us could not live as they do and still excel. They are models for us, bringing us humility as well as joy.” Robin Loving

​”As the mother of a young adult, I find mentoring to be a bit like parenting but without the ego, second-guessing and inevitable guilt. As a mentor, you simply want this individual to realize their full potential–to grow and thrive. Mentoring allows me to share whatever wisdom I have and access a more selfless form of caring that brings joy and meaning.” Brandel France de Bravo

♦  Imagine the satisfaction of seeing a student from a family of meager means graduate, flip the tassel, and go into an industry job with a middle-class income and a car!

♦  And imagine the communities where a quarter of our students return with all the knowledge th​ey​ bring back from the wider world!

​Our Mentors commit to at least one meeting each month with their student and a short report regarding the academic, personal and financial development of their student. Although our Mentors need not be bilingual, it’s important that they speak Spanish well enough to have meaningful conversations with a Spanish speaking teenager. JA has 250+ graduates and an 83% graduation rate. We currently have 115 university students enrolled and will take another 35-40 in July.

Would you feel good about joining our Mentor Team for this exciting and uplifting work? To discuss the possibility, please contact Nora Weaver, Mentor Director, nora.weaver@gmail.com or Antonio López, Mentor Coordinator, a.lopez@jovenesadelante.org, www.jovenesadelante.org

Jóvenes Adelante  provides scholarships and other essential support to young Mexican university students facing economic adversity so that they may acquire the academic and life skills necessary to foster positive social and economic change in their society. Since 2001 Jóvenes Adelante has helped nearly 200 students obtain university degrees. Our standards are high. Through a rigorous screening process – including two interviews, one with the applicant’s family – the brightest and most financially challenged students are identified and assessed. Successful applicants are funded for the entirety of their university studies (four or five years).