Leaders through service, PCF mentors are professionals in their chosen field who have a deep belief in the power of education to elevate and bridge the opportunity gap for first-generation scholars.
Mentors provide scholars with social/emotional, academic, and career support for a few hours every month and are a key component of our scholars’ college and career success. This long-term relationship helps scholars navigate through college and beyond.
The long-term relationships mentors and scholars form can be life-changing.
To learn more about being a mentor for PCF, we often host mentor information sessions or “Lunch and Learns” for friend or work colleague groups. We can host a virtual session or come to your work/home to explain what it’s like to be a mentor.
PCF asks candidates a variety of questions to gauge your interest and eligibility. If approved, we use the information from your application to ensure we make a strong match with a scholar.
Eligible candidates are invited to attend an interview with PCF. We’re looking to understand who you are and what your personality is like.
We carefully screen mentor candidates by asking for two references and a background check.
During the mentor recruitment window, we will inform candidates once they become match-eligible. Match-eligible mentors are placed in a pool to await our incoming scholar cohort.
And finally, once we have our new scholar cohort, PCF carefully matches mentors with scholars based on career interest, personality, and a variety of other factors.
Mentoring Hours
Below are some commonly asked questions about volunteering with The Peninsula College Fund
PCF relies on volunteers to support our scholars in many ways. Volunteers serve as mentors, scholar application readers, scholar interviewers, Career Exploration Fair participants and speakers.
It depends on the role you serve. Some volunteer opportunities, like being a Career Exploration Fair participant, last approximately 2 - 3 hours and other roles, like being a mentor last for 4 and up to 6 years.
A mentor serves as a caring ally for a 1st-gen student so they can graduate and get a job that aligns with their career goals. Those relationships take time to build and require consistent communication to be most effective.
If you can give a short amount of time, the best options are to volunteer as a participant at our annual Career Exploration Fair held every July or volunteer as an application reader and/or interviewer, usually in February or March. We have additional opportunities throughout the year that may be of interest, so check out our volunteer webpage for more details.
Because of the large number of applications we receive, we rely on volunteers to help with interviews. Interviewers meet with applicants to help us determine which ones would benefit most from our services.
Visit our webpage dedicated to mentors. We have a variety of resources, including testimonials from mentors and scholars, to share how impactful being a mentor can be. You can also volunteer to host a mentor information session. Email us to learn more!
Visit our career services webpage for more details on how to get involved, the impact of volunteer engagement from a scholar's perspective, and what volunteers have to say about their experience.
