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Mentoring: Helping Youth Make a Difference in STEM

Mentoring is a life-long approach to building positive, supportive relationships, confidence and increasing academic performance that is designed to engage youth in increasing interests in STEM, Healthcare, and Teacher education.  In this article, I present how the role of mentoring has the potential to help youth build confidence and interests in STEM through the use of a Vertical Mentoring model.  A n exploratory case study approach was used to gain insight into how the model affected youths’ interactions in learning about STEM concepts, healthcare and teacher education during a summer program.  Middle school participants completed a self-efficacy scale and career inventory of perceptions, learning and academic interests. Middle school youth and program mentors, randomly selected, provide personal insight on their attitudes, interests and overall satisfaction about the program experiences during group interviews.  Findings were interpreted based on the tenets of positive youth development implemented within mentoring model and program activities.  The findings also provide an anchor for more research on the implementation of this mentoring model in informal programs such as this summer camp