{"id":77313,"date":"2026-03-23T08:39:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T15:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=77313"},"modified":"2026-03-25T14:19:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T21:19:15","slug":"from-high-school-to-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/from-high-school-to-higher-education\/","title":{"rendered":"From high school to higher education"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mentorship program born inside a classroom at NAU\u00a0aims\u00a0to ease the\u00a0often-daunting\u00a0transition from\u00a0high\u00a0school to college by connecting students across both levels in structured,\u00a0meaningful relationships.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The program,\u00a0Contigo: Peer\u00a0Mentoring\u00a0for\u00a0Resilience\u00a0and Access,\u00a0is\u00a0designed\u00a0to address academic and social uncertainties\u00a0among underrepresented students. The initiative\u00a0pairs\u00a0NAU students\u00a0with high\u00a0school\u00a0juniors\u00a0and seniors\u00a0to provide\u00a0them\u00a0with\u00a0practical guidance\u00a0and\u00a0grounded\u00a0firsthand\u00a0experience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The idea\u00a0for\u00a0the project\u00a0took root in Community University\u00a0Public\u00a0Inquiry\u00a0(CUPI),\u00a0a\u00a0community-based undergraduate research class in the Sustainable Communities program, which\u00a0partners students with local organizations to conduct applied research relevant for the community. Now, thanks to a grant from\u00a0the Helios Foundation offered through\u00a0AZ HSI\u00a0GATE,\u00a0<\/span>Samantha Marin Olmos<\/span><\/b>, a biomedical science and sociology junior\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Natalia Canaan<\/span><\/b>, a chemistry and psychology sophomore,\u00a0will see their class project come to life on a larger scale\u00a0with the guidance of\u00a0anthropology associate teaching professor\u00a0<\/span>Leah Mundell<\/span><\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe class\u00a0was\u00a0divided into pods,\u201d said Marin Olmos, explaining that her research pod partnered with\u00a0Northern\u00a0Arizona Interfaith Council. \u201cNatalia and I joined the\u00a0Immigrant\u00a0Youth\u00a0Equity pod and had the opportunity\u00a0to speak with high school students in Flagstaff and saw the need to help underserved students with the transition from high school to college.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Natalia<\/a>
Natalia Canaan and Samantha Marin Olmos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marin Olmos and Canaan spoke to students at resource fairs and at their high schools during\u00a0FAFSA\u00a0night. They also invited high schoolers to\u00a0participate\u00a0in a class discussion to share their experiences.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Their\u00a0conversation hit close to\u00a0home, since\u00a0both Marin Olmos and Canaan are\u00a0first-generation students\u00a0of\u00a0immigrant families and\u00a0remember\u00a0facing\u00a0the same struggles when transitioning to NAU.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCollege is a unique experience\u00a0for everyone, but it was a little different for us\u00a0having\u00a0those obstacles,\u201d\u00a0Canaan\u00a0said. \u201cWe are proud of our background and want to\u00a0give\u00a0back to the\u00a0community. We want to let them know that we are here and that we support them because we\u00a0all\u00a0deserve to thrive.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Natalia<\/a>
Natalia Canaan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The team is working on recruiting mentors from NAU by reaching out to different classes and clubs.\u00a0Prospective mentors should\u00a0submit\u00a0<\/span>an\u00a0application<\/span><\/a>\u00a0by March 23 to participate. The recruitment of mentees will be a collaboration with\u00a0Flagstaff\u00a0high school\u00a0counselors to help them\u00a0identify\u00a0candidates who can\u00a0benefit\u00a0from the\u00a0program.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s unusual for students to spearhead a new program,\u201d Mundell said.\u00a0\u201cWhen they started meeting with\u00a0staff\u00a0who run mentoring programs on campus and proposed this,\u00a0the students\u00a0heard\u00a0repeatedly\u00a0that\u00a0their idea\u00a0did not exist in the way they were proposing\u00a0it and that it was really needed. They worked to get the grant and are\u00a0establishing\u00a0the program. Having something student-initiated is\u00a0incredible and\u00a0integrating it into a class has been a wonderful opportunity for other students to get inspired by this project.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Marin Olmos, a program such as this\u00a0would have\u00a0helped\u00a0on\u00a0her journey to NAU. She said she felt alone in the process and questioned whether it was worth doing. Although her parents supported her\u00a0decision to go to NAU, they could not help her since they did not understand the process. For\u00a0Canaan,\u00a0the struggle was more acute when she started\u00a0college,\u00a0since\u00a0she\u00a0sometimes\u00a0felt\u00a0like\u00a0she did not belong.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think for me the hardest thing was not only figuring out how to get\u00a0here but\u00a0also dealing with imposter syndrome\u00a0once\u00a0I was at NAU,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cIt was hard to believe I belonged. Now, I feel like the experience has been empowering.\u00a0That\u00a0is why Samantha and I are so motivated to spread that empowerment because we went through the same struggle, feeling like we did not know if we could do it. We know this program will be of great support to students.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information\u00a0about the program or to\u00a0apply to be\u00a0a mentor, send an email to\u00a0<\/span>contigo@nau.edu<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A mentorship program born inside a classroom at NAU\u00a0aims\u00a0to ease the\u00a0often-daunting\u00a0transition from\u00a0high\u00a0school to college by connecting students across both levels in structured,\u00a0meaningful relationships.\u00a0\u00a0 The program,\u00a0Contigo: Peer\u00a0Mentoring\u00a0for\u00a0Resilience\u00a0and Access,\u00a0is\u00a0designed\u00a0to address academic and social uncertainties\u00a0among underrepresented students. The initiative\u00a0pairs\u00a0NAU students\u00a0with high\u00a0school\u00a0juniors\u00a0and seniors\u00a0to provide\u00a0them\u00a0with\u00a0practical guidance\u00a0and\u00a0grounded\u00a0firsthand\u00a0experience.\u00a0 The idea\u00a0for\u00a0the project\u00a0took root in Community University\u00a0Public\u00a0Inquiry\u00a0(CUPI),\u00a0a\u00a0community-based undergraduate research class in the Sustainable Communities…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":77314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}