Henderson County Pathfinders Program (HCPP)

Henderson County Pathfinders Program

What is the Henderson County Pathfinders Program?

Created to support the development of students in Henderson County Public Schools, the Henderson County Pathfinders Program (HCPP) is an innovative mentorship program that places middle and high schoolers with a mentor (a community volunteer) who will provide individualized support to students throughout their journey from grades 7 to 12.

Current Donors

Level 2

Bob’s Creek Baptist Church

B & R Rock Grading/Excavating

Level 3

Elkamet, Inc.

Hilltop Farm WNC, LLC

The Family of Alice Anderson

Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn Matthews

Level 4

Arby’s

Community Foundation of Henderson County

What is the timeline of HCPP?

HCPP will begin in August 2024 in Flat Rock Middle and East Henderson High schools and will move to other feeder zones as funds become available.

Why is HCPP needed?

In the Henderson County Public School System, 610 students, or 10% of the student population, are categorized as disconnected youth – meaning they are neither in school nor employed. Many other students currently face academic, behavioral, and attendance challenges that increase their risk of becoming disconnected. There is a pressing need for a one-on-one community mentorship program for these middle and high school students to receive the support they need to remain in school and become gainfully employed. Demands on administrators, counselors, and teachers are ever increasing and each individual school’s capacity to address this issue is finite. HCPP’s goal is to lower or eliminate disconnected youth in our community by providing individualized support through one-on-one mentorship.

During the check-ins, mentors DO focus on:

Academics
Attendance
Behavior
Career interests
Postsecondary plans
Connecting students to school and community resources
University of North Carolina system admission requirements

During the check-ins, mentors DO NOT:

Replace school resources/services
Handle issues outside of their check-in focus

How does it work?

Eventually mentors will have a caseload of around 15-18 students across 3 grade levels each year – either 7th, 9th, and 11th or 8th, 10th and 12th.
Mentors follow their students from 7th grade through high school graduation.
Mentors see their students individually every other month (1 month at the middle school and the next month at the high school) for approximately 15 minutes per meeting.
Mentors visits are scheduled for approximately 2 weeks every other month at each school.

What resources will mentors have?

Meetings are structured by grade level, focusing on what each student needs in that grade level during that month (ex: 8th grade in March – high school class registration or 11th grade in Feb – free ACT is coming up).
Interview matrices have been developed for each grade level that guide mentors through these talking points.
The Program Coordinator will provide Mentors with information about their student’s grades, transcripts, attendance, etc.
Mentors and students can utilize the online learning platform to look at the student’s current assignments, grades.
Other resources that will be available to mentors – ACT/SAT dates, College Foundation of North Carolina (CFNC), teacher schedules, course catalogs, scholarship information and deadlines, etc.

What is expected of mentors?

Commitment to one morning or afternoon a month to meet with students (Mentors are able to select their own dates within each month’s two week meeting window.)

Annual background checks
Signed Commitment form and job description
Initial training
Periodic Ongoing training
- School updates, changes, programs, services
- Community college programs, services, updates, changes
- Community resources
- Career opportunities
- Mentoring topics

How do I sign up?

Complete this Google Form: Henderson County Pathfinder Program Mentor Sign-Up

Or email Maggie Gilliam, Henderson County Pathfinder Program Director at [email protected]. Please include your name, phone number and mailing address.