Mentors Give At-Risk Students a Better Shot at Success

The stacks of applications in the offices of Student Sponsor Partners tell the stories of eighth and ninth graders with the odds against them. They don't do well in school, they take care of their single parents and siblings or have no parents, they live with violence and crime in their neighborhoods, in financially struggling families. Student Sponsor Partners offers them an opportunity to turn things around. Graduation rates at the public high schools the students will otherwise attend are between 20 and 30%. Last year, 84% of Student Sponsor Partners students graduated from high school, and 96% of those went on to college. And the cost of that opportunity is economical. Student Sponsor Partners spends about a third of what New York City schools do on their students.

That accomplishment will be celebrated tonight at the organization's black-tie Founder's Dinner. The event at the Pierre will honor the investment bank Goldman Sachs for its support.

But back in the offices, there will be some frustration in the coming weeks, as the associate directors of admissions, Lisa Cernera and Vivian Chabrier, sort through those 1,230 applications to fill 425 slots at New York City parochial high schools.

They could offer more slots because the schools have the room. But they need more individuals like the bankers at Goldman Sachs, who will agree to pay $5,000 a year in tuition for four years. They'll also accept sponsors willing to contribute as low as $2,000. Families of the students are asked to contribute $800 a year.

"We're willing to be flexible because we know we have a model that works," the chairman of the nonprofit, Robert Niehaus of Greenhill Capital Partners, said.

Ricardo Watson, 26, is proof of that. He came to Cardinal Hayes High School as a "60s and 70s student." In his first year, he failed two classes. He graduated in the top 10% of his class with a full scholarship to Wesleyan and now works at Credit Suisse. "Without the program I don't see myself here," Mr. Watson, who was snowboarding in Vermont last weekend, said.

Sarah Abdeldiem, 16, is also proof. The junior at Cathedral High School who plans on becoming a doctor hated math in junior high school. Now she has a 93 average in pre-calculus and is signed up to take AP Calculus next year.

"At public school we didn't learn anything. Cathedral is so much different," she said. "My counselors talk about the Regents and college. They place you in the right class. They even help you find a summer job."

The environment at her Catholic school is conducive to learning. "They give you the opportunity. They place you in classes where you belong," Miss Abdeldiem said.

She likes the school uniform and rules. "No boys outside, skirts not too short, don't be late, respect the teachers. When you're at a Catholic school, the rules are enforced and people take them seriously."

Student Sponsor Partners has sponsors and students of all faiths. Mr. Watson is Baptist. Miss Abdeldiem is Muslim. "No one notices it. There are so many students who aren't Catholic. My mom loves the school," Miss Abdeldiem said.

At St. Jean Baptiste High School on East 75th Street, Student Sponsor Partners students make up 17% of the student body. About 65% of students are Catholic, 8 to 10% are Muslim, and the others are Christians who are not Roman Catholic.

The principal, Sister Ona Bessette, credits Student Sponsor Partners with stabilizing enrollment and helping the school grow. "It has been a really important partnership for us. … It has made us more well known to those in a public school setting, and to those with a non-Catholic background," she said.

The school's applications are up and enrollment is increasing, thanks in part to the stability and leadership from Student Sponsor Partners. And with the schools stronger, Student Sponsor Partners can benefit, too.

The idea for scaling up at Student Sponsor Partners comes after 20 years of gradual growth and fine-tuning the program. In 1986, investment banker Peter Flanigan found 45 colleagues to serve as sponsors to 45 at-risk students at the Cathedral School and Cardinal Hayes High School. The one-to-one pairing included spending time with a student as well paying tuition.

Today a staff of nine is managing 1,700 sponsors supporting 1,250 students at 20 parochial schools in the city. The one-to-one pairing is predominant but the organization also allows two people to divide the financial and time commitments. Financial sponsors pay the tuition, while "time sponsors" talk or meet with students four to six times a year, often at group outings arranged by the staff.

The mentoring relationship between student and sponsor often extends beyond the high school years. Peter Collery, who has sponsored several students over a period of 19 years, recently heard from his former student Julio Portilla that he passed the Bar. "From the moment I met him, when he was 13, he said he was going to be a lawyer," Mr. Collery said. "He's the personification of the American dream."

Sometimes sponsors befriend students they did not personally work with. A trustee, Sid Goodfriend, has served as a mentor to Mr. Watson at Credit Suisse.

The role of Student Sponsor Partners as a facilitator goes beyond the pairing of students and sponsors. The organization works with the schools closely.

"Adding a school means training from scratch. We expect a lot of our schools," associate admissions director Ms. Chabrier said.

Part of the work is to ensure the students that come through Student Sponsor Partners blend with the other students. "We have to assimilate the schools to our students, so our kids don't stick out. They're peers of their classmates, and for the most part they graduate on par," Ms. Chabrier said.

Student Sponsor Partners requires that schools have a full time Student Sponsor Partners Coordinator to look after its students. It does not fund this position. It also requires the schools to run a summer program before the ninth grade, which it does fund.

Overseen by a board of primarily Wall Street executives, Student Sponsor Partners has an $8 million annual budget. The executive director oversees three employees in finance and development, two employees in sponsor recruitment, and three employees in programming, which includes admissions and working with the schools. All employees serve as liaisons with the schools, which they visit quarterly to meet with students.

Soon after graduating from college, Mr. Watson attended a board meeting and was overwhelmed by meeting so many executives who cared about his education. As he has ascended at Credit Suisse, he has started to give back. He is a sponsor of a student at his own high school, and he is also organizing events for fellow alumni. "What I try to do is get sponsors more involved. I just want more kids to have the opportunity that I had," he said.