EVALUATORS’ OBSERVATIONS Walmart MSI Mentor/Mentee Project

AIHEC Schools – The Context Small Institutions Isolated locations Mentor/ Mentee Schools Relationship of equals Learning Community

All schools benefited from project Increased engagement of college staff and faculty in retention Larger more inviting learning centers Added retention staffing and advising practices  Mentor schools – improved and tightened their current programs  Mentee schools took ideas and applied them to their own settings  Strong evidence of institutional changes, especially in mentee schools

What were important elements? Site visits to mentor and mentee institutions MSI meetings -provided planning time  Seeing the LRC as a welcoming place chocked full of small to large resources  Getting ideas to adapt to own setting  Building relationships – know who to call  Witnessing the culture of the students and people

Take away lessons Learning community – not hierarchical relationships Use different terms – perhaps Elder, rather than Mentor  TCUs value opportunity to meet peers at other schools  Heartening to see large and small schools have similar challenges  Hearing speakers, meeting others who care was inspiring and energizing  Retention efforts improving across all institutions