Email  Print

Mentoring Alliance adds college counselor

Thanks to the hard work of area mentors, Sonoma Mentoring Alliance mentees are heading on to college in record numbers. Most are the first in their family to do this, and most attend Santa Rosa Junior College.

According to Director Kathy Witkowicki, however, nearly 40 percent of those who graduate from high school and do go on to college drop out during their freshman year. So the Mentoring Alliance’s Scholarship Committee decided that if they were going to award scholarship money to these young men and women, they really needed to “mentor” them through college as well.

To that end, Tina Moi has joined the Mentoring Alliance in the newly created position of College Success Coordinator.

Said Witkowicki, “Tina’s role is to do just that. She will work closely with each of our scholarship recipients to be sure that they have the assistance they need to apply for financial aid and waivers, register for the proper classes, meet with their college counselors, figure out transportation, etc.”

Moi attended Sonoma Valley schools, and graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2003. She worked at Sonoma Valley High School as a counseling technician from 2005 to 2009, and then went on to become the school community liaison at the Sonoma Valley Adult School.

Adds Witkowicki, “Tina’s background experience lends itself very well to this new role, and she is already on board with the 12 graduating mentees who received scholarships from the Mentoring Alliance in May.”

The 2012 graduating mentees sharing $13,000 in college scholarships from the Mentoring Alliance are listed below. Mentees already in college will also share an additional $13,000 in scholarship money.

Gabriela Aguilera               Gemma Bolanos
Esmeralda Chavez              Brittany David
Treytcy De Haro                 Ana De La Cruz
Elizabeth Hernandez          Miguel Macias
Mario Mora-Soto                 Gene Truong
Jacqueline Villalobo           Mayra Zuniga