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Cosby High School Collaboration

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Program Description

Mentor/Service Learning Course

Apply to become a Mentor

Description of Service Learning Courses

Cosby High School Home Page

Richmond Times Dispatch Article

Project Partners

 

Photos of Cosby High School Activities at VCU School of Nursing

Photos of Cosby High School Activities at VCU School of Pharmacy

 

Program Description

Cosby High School  is located in Chesterfield County. The high school has recently opened a specialty center designed for high school students interested in pursuing health careers. (See the Richmond Times Dispatch article for more details.)

 

During the spring 2010 semester, for the third time, Dr. Seth Leibowitz, director of Pre-Health Sciences Advising and Donna Jackson, director of Outreach for VCU School of Medicine, will co-teach a course in Cosby High School to help students make informed choices about the health professions they wish to pursue, and to help them plan a pathway to pursue their careers. The high school class will involve in-class exercises, lectures and lab experiences, in which the high school students will visit the Monroe Park and MCV campuses.

 

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Mentor / Service Learning Course

Twenty five  undergraduate VCU students will be chosen to participate in a service learning / mentoring class.  The class will be a 3 credit, 300-level service learning course. The mentoring course will be taught in the spring semester and there will be one section meeting on Wednesdays from 9:30am-12:30pm and one section meeting from 11:30-2pm on Wednesdays. Participation in the class requires driving or carpooling to Cosby High School in Chesterfield County about 7 times throughout the course of the spring semester. Trips to Cosby are about ½ hour by Car from the Monroe Park Campus and will involve minimal costs to cover gas and toll expenses. During the dates when mentors are not traveling to Cosby, they will be meeting on the Monroe Park Campus from 11:30-12:30pm.

 

For Spring 2010, Mentors will be performing service and expected to be in attendance at Cosby High School in Chesterfield on January 20th, February 10th, February 24th, March 10th, March 24th, April 14th and one additional time during the period of April 20th to May 12th.

 

Each VCU student, mentor will be paired with 4-5 high school students in a mentorship relationship. For the VCU students participation in the class will involve learning skills to become mentors to the high school students who are exploring career options in the health professions. Mentors will be required to work closely with their mentees to develop a final presentation, grade their mentees written work, lead discussions/presentations on college success skills, and coordinate administrative aspects of the program.

 

All service activities and class meetings will take place during the classes' designated meeting times on Wednesdays. Other meetings will be scheduled on occasional Fridays, but we will avoid conflicts with your existing class schedules when arranging the meetings. If you are selected to become a mentor, a class entitled HUMS 391 will be placed on your spring 2010 schedule and you will be assigned to one of the am or pm class sections, depending on the needs of the program. Mentors will be required to schedule their other spring classes around the times of the mentor class.

 

Here is the syllabus for Spring 2010. 

 

Apply to Become a Mentor

Students who wish to become mentors are required to fill out an application and submit it by Monday, November 10th at 5pm.  Information sessions will be held on Monday November 2nd at 11, noon, and 1pm; and again on Tuesday November 3rd at 11:30, 12:30, and 1:30pm for anyone who is interested in becoming a Cosby Mentor.

 

If you have any questions please e-mail Dr. Leibowitz at slleibowitz@vcu.edu

 

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Project Partners

University College

Center for Health Disparities

Cosby High School and Chesterfield Board of Education

Virginia Mentoring Partnership

VCU Division of Community Engagement

VCU School of Medicine 

VCU School of Dentistry 

VCU School of Pharmacy 

VCU School of Allied Health 

VCU School of Nursing

 

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