Launch U is a program designed for seniors to pair them with mentors throughout their last nine months of high school. There is at least fourteen students who joined Launch U.  This program requires seniors to meet with their mentor at least once a month.

“The purpose for Launch U is to help seniors with their college journey such as applying for college and scholarships,” said senior Mayra Aguilar Guadarrama.  

The first three meetings were at 641 West Lake Street. These meetings consisted of applying and finding majors that interest the student.

“The first session I attended was learning more about what Launch U is about and made us fill out paperwork and sign up to College Green Light to look for scholarship opportunities for schools. The second session I went to was to ask questions to people with different careers and learn more about what it is like to have that career. The third session was about interviewing mentors that will help us with our college journey,” said Aguilar.

In the month of August the girls and guys were separated and met mentors associated with their gender.

   “The mentors were really interesting, some of them were young and some were in their 30’s. It was fun meeting new people who were not from Chicago,” said senior Jose Zavala.     

In the month of August the seniors talked to the different mentors and were divided into different groups depending on the major they were interested in.

“I had chosen STEM as my career but I had a mixture of different mentors with different careers and even after I ranked them I didn’t get who I wanted,” said senior Alejandro Flores.

Once they are paired with a mentor, they  must meet with the mentors at least once a month. The meetups are not located on  Lake street but anywhere they would like to.

“I really liked my mentor, it was also the person I had ranked as number one,” said senior Cynthia Olivares.

The next step to this program is to meet the mentors in person and start working on school work students need help with.

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My mentor’s name is Johnathan and he is a big Northwestern fan. ”

— Jose Zavala