Mentorship to Combat Loneliness, Bridge Opportunity Gaps, and Fight Underrepresentation in STEM Disciplines

This work describes the structure and outcomes from the first year pilot of the National Society of Black Physicists and Harlem Gallery of Science Mentoring Program, a culturally sustaining, virtual mentoring program for adolescents from underrepresented communities. The program originated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program’s goals: combat students’ feelings of loneliness, build a community, bridge opportunity gaps, and help address underrepresentation within STEM disciplines.

     This program connects underserved New York City adolescents with mentors who “reminded them of themselves”; meaning, the mentees are matched with university student mentors who share similar interests and sociocultural identities. Various superordinate (subordinate) themes were identified amongst mentee outcomes: social-emotional support (support with mental health, and family-like bonds and inclusivity), building paths to academic and professional success (demystifying success, and skills for success), and supporting connections to STEM (nurturing interests in STEM, and seeing oneself in STEM careers). The program shows great viability to be continued and replicated beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, and to continue to foster the interest and skill of underrepresented groups in physics and STEM.