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Impact of mentoring on former pre-college program participants: gaining while giving back

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Impact of mentoring on former pre-college program participants: gaining while giving back

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Content Running head: MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS i

Impact of Mentoring on Former Pre-College Program Participants: Gaining While Giving Back
by

Rebekah L. Blonshine

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

May 2014

Copyright 2014 Rebekah Blonshine
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS ii
Dedication
I dedicate my dissertation to the participants of this study who are TRiO alumni and to all
TRiO students past and present. Your ability to persevere despite obstacles makes your
academic and professional successes a true testament of what TRiO programs were created for. I
also dedicate this work to numerous TRiO staff members nationwide that dedicate their lives to
giving back to a program that contributed to their success. Thank you for impacting the lives of
others in order to make the future a better place.

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS iii
Acknowledgements

Deciding to quit my job and leave my house, friends, and family on a quest to further my
education at the University of Southern California was the scariest thing I have ever done in my
life. I could not have completed this dissertation and been successful on this part of my life
journey without the help, love, and support from many people. First, I would like to thank my
family. Mom—you honestly are the strongest person I have ever met. I thank you for fighting
so hard to live because I don’t know how I could have done this without you. You have taught
me how precious life truly is and to live each day as if the next is not promised. Dad - thank you
for allowing me to grow and plan my own life path. You are one of the smartest people I know,
and I appreciate you giving me guidance while allowing me to be my own person. Matt—
brother—thank you for always challenging me to think about things from another perspective.
I remember how proud you were of me when I first got accepted to college and have always
appreciated your love and support. Vanessa- thanks for being a great sis-in-law, and to my niece
Maya, thank you for making every visit back home worth the trip. To my grams, thank you for
being the best grandmother a person could ask for.
I am grateful for my friends, classmates, and colleagues that helped me to adjust to living
over 2,000 miles from home. I want to thank my sorority sister Whitney who was the only
person I knew here when moving to Los Angeles. Even though we didn’t know each other that
well at first, you instantly made me feel like I had family even though I was so far from
Michigan. Your friendship is something that I truly value and I thank you for helping me to
balance the stress of school and work with exploring all that California has to offer. To my
classmates: Cecelia, Aba, Dale, Sandy, Chelvi, and Peggy- thank you for all of your support
throughout this process. You all were great study buddies and tried your hardest to keep me on
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS iv
track when I didn’t want to keep writing. Jaclyn M. thanks for your years of friendship and
support. To my friends and co-workers Demitruis, and Jackie T. thanks for being the best TRiO
trio I could have ever asked for. To Eboni, thank you for being the breath of fresh air that I
needed. I am thankful you have come into my life.
I would also like to thank Dr. Shaw for being the best mentor imaginable. You are truly a
role model and I aspire to be the type of professional that you are. You are the reason that I
wanted to continue working administratively within higher education and I appreciate all of your
advice and guidance. I have learned so much from you, and I will strive to be the type of leader
that you are.
Lastly, I am grateful for my dissertation committee, for being patient and supportive with
me throughout this journey. Your commitment to education and to creating change is
inspirational. To my chair, Dr. Kristan Venegas, thanks for allowing me to pace myself, and
providing me with the feedback and encouragement to finish.

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS v

Table of Contents

Dedication ii

Acknowledgements iii

List of Tables and Figures viii

Abstract ix

Chapter One: Introduction 1
Role of Pre-College Programs 2
Pre-College Programs and Retention 3
Statement of the Problem 5
Purpose and Significance of the Study 6
Overview of Theoretical Framework 8
Significance of the Study 9
Definitions of Key Terms 9
Organization of the Study 11

Chapter Two: Literature Review 12
Institutional role for first generation students 12
Student engagement and community service 13
Low-income first generation students 14
Pre-college programs 16
College Access in K-12 20
Mentoring 20
Mentoring underrepresented populations 22
Peer mentoring 23
Peer groups 24
Theoretical Frameworks 25
Social capital theory 26
Cultural capital 29
Mentoring theory 30
Summary 32

Chapter Three: Methodology 33
Research Design 33
Sample and Population 34
Data Collection 36
Interviews 36
Data Analysis 37
Ethical Considerations 38
Rich, thick, description 39
Triangulation 39
Member checks 40
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS vi
Consideration of Researcher Bias 40
Summary 41

Chapter Four: Findings 42
Participants 42
Sara 43
Emilio 44
Lourdes 44
Adam 45
Tess 45
Mia 46
Darren 47
Jose 47
Gayle 48
Brandon 48
Background Themes 49
Non-traditional family structures 49
Pre-college program experiences 50
College Experiences 52
Transition from high school to college 52
Social class barriers 54
College involvement and campus activities 56
Returning to work for pre-college program 57
Impact of Mentoring 59
Motivation 59
Finding a social network 60
Positive self-identity gained from giving back 63
Empowerment 64
Leadership 67
Communication skills 69
Conclusion 71

Chapter Five: Discussion, Recommendations, and Conclusion 73
Review and Discussion of Findings 73
Implications for Practice 76
University Retention Programs 76
Importance of Job Opportunities 77
Recommendations for Future Research 78
Civic Engagement 78
Benefits of mentorship for high school students 78
Career fields chosen 78
Limitations 79
Conclusion 79

References 81

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS vii

Appendices
Appendix A: Interview questions for current college students 88
Appendix B: Modified interview questions for college graduates 90
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS viii

List of Tables

Table 3.1: Participant Information 44

List of Figures

Figure 3.1: Creswell’s Steps for Qualitative Analysis 38

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS ix
Abstract
Historically institutions of higher education have not been as accessible to students from
low income and first generation backgrounds. Federal pre-college programs were established to
increase the numbers of low-income first generation students accessing higher education. Many
of these students return to work for their pre-college program in order to mentor and “give back”
to the younger students. There is little known about how this mentoring relationship affects the
former participants and if the experience of giving back to their pre-college program aids in their
success while in college.
This study will examine the benefits the college students receive from giving back to
younger students from similar low-income first generation backgrounds. This study aims to find
out if being nurtured by the pre-college program as a college student helps students gain social
and cultural capital and find the support and resources to persist in their current degree program.
Former pre-college participants of a federally funded program that have returned to work as
college students are interviewed for this qualitative study. The respondents are asked to reflect
on how mentoring low-income first generation students has impacted them while in college, and
to discuss how returning to work for a pre-college program has helped them to gain social and
cultural capital while in college. Participants share their institutional and individual experiences
while in college and how mentoring high school pre-college students and returning to their pre-
college program has impacted them. The results of this study affirmed that former pre-college
participants do gain from giving back as mentors and that they do gain skills that assist with their
retention and academic success while in college.

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 1

Chapter One: Introduction
Institutions of higher education in the United States boast that the doors are open to any
student that works hard for admission. Once admitted, however, there are clear distinctions
between those students that have been properly prepared for college life academically and
socially and those students that have not. The belief that every student who desires to access an
education regardless of race, economic or social class background is embedded in society, yet
millions of students in U.S. schools from low-income and underrepresented backgrounds are not
reaching their goals of a college education (Allen, 2005; Jacobson & Mokher, 2009). A report
from the U.S. Department of Education found that in 2007 the dropout rate of students living in
low-income families was 10 times greater than the rate of students from high-income families
(Cataldi, Laird, & Kewal Ramai, 2009). Low-income students are faced with the expectation to
achieve at the same level as those students from affluent school even though the schools they
attend are lacking the resources to support them in that process (Carrol et al., 2004; Chiang,
2009).
Many students from lower-economic backgrounds are not provided with the knowledge
and resources of how to attain a college degree therefore, transitioning from high school to an
institution of higher education is a challenge. Green (2006) describes these challenges to include
the college application process, assistance with financial aid, academic preparedness, the college
selection process, retention, and degree completion. Renick (2006) identified three factors which
contribute to the gap in achievement for low-income first generation students to include: 1) Lack
of academic development at the high school level causing to not get accepted to college or to be
underprepared for success at the college level, 2) Lack of information given to academically
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 2
prepared students in regards to financial aid and college choices, and 3) the families lack of
financial resources.
Pre-college programs attempt to address the gaps identified by Renick (2006). This study
examines the role pre-college programs play in providing social and cultural capital to students
once they have started college by understanding the value gained by those who return to work
with the host program they formerly participated in. Pre-college programs are designed to
provide social and cultural capital to students in high school by ensuring students have the tools
necessary to gain college admission. The program is not designed to required students to give
back to the program through volunteering or working for the program once in college although
significant numbers of students do return for an opportunity to give back. The question that
remains is if students continue to benefit and gain social and cultural capital by returning to work
for their pre-college program once in college.
The role of pre-college programs
Pre-college programs have been established to help universities improve enrollment,
retention, and graduation rates among economically disadvantaged students. Participants include
mainly low-income and first-generation students aspiring to attend college who will have to
overcome many difficulties in their journey to admittance and graduation from an institution of
higher education. Universities are taking interest in how pre-college programs help students in
the transition process from high school to college (Green, 2006). Federal, state and local pre-
college programs have been operating for decades in providing underrepresented populations
with the tools, encouragement, and opportunity to gain entrance to college (Swail & Perna,
2000). Pre-college programs have been given the difficult task of providing underrepresented
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 3
students with the skills necessary for academic success and educational equality despite the
failures of the public school system.
Muraskin’s (1997) study identified high-performing low-income first generation students
and evaluated best practices to highlight what a program should possess to promote positive
academic experiences for students in the first year of college. Practices relevant to the current
study include participating in a pre-college academic and social preparation program,
participating in group services that build cohesion and provide a powerful message, and
participating in the college admission process for at-risk students (Muraskin, 1997).
Pre-college programs and retention
Attrition, persistence, and retention are words often heard in relation to higher education.
Attrition refers to a reduction in numbers or size therefore in higher education it refers to a
school’s loss of students. Persistence relates to a students postsecondary education continuation
behavior that leads to graduation. Retention is a percentage measurement that shows how many
students return to re-enroll at an institution that they attended the previous year.
Retention efforts are essential for low-income first generation students to be successful.
One study found that even the highest achieving low-income students are not provided with
appropriate secondary education preparedness prior to entering the university setting (Wyner,
Bridgeland, & Dilulio, 2007). For college students, theoretical models provided by Astin’s
Involvement Model (1977), Tinto’s Student Integration Model (1975, 1993) and Bean’s Student
Attrition Model (1980) attempt to explain attrition, persistence, and retention among students.
Austin (1985) focused on how “involved” students are in their college environments either
socially or academically, whereas Tinto (1987) focused on how “integrated” a student is in their
college environment affecting persistence.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 4
Other factors to affect persistence include academic performance, interaction with
faculty, residence on campus, and working while in school (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991, 2005)
as well as financial factors such as tuition, housing, and financial aid (Bettinger, 2004; Paulsen &
St. John, 1997, 2002). Thayer (2000) states that students from low income and first generation
backgrounds are the least likely to be retained through degree completion and therefore
institutions of higher education have to make significant efforts to ensure equitable rates of
educational attainment. First-generation college students on average have persistence rates that
are lower than those continuing-generation students (Duggan, 2002; Ishitani, 2002; Lohfink &
Paulsen, 2005). Pre-college programs have a challenging task to not only get low-income first
generation students admitted to college, but to ensure that they are properly prepared to persist
and complete a 4-year degree.
Background of the Problem
Changing demographics in the United States has positioned the country behind peer
nations in education attainment. Between 1995 and 2007 the bachelor’s degree attainment rate
in the U.S. remained stagnant while the rate for peer nations doubled on average within the same
time span (OECD, 2009). Bowen, Chingos, & McPherson (2009) project that by 2015 if rates of
bachelor’s degree completion by race hold constant there will be a 5 percent decline in the U.S.
overall educational attainment. This shift is primarily due to the declining population of White
students and a consistent gap between Whites and various demographic groups attaining
bachelor’s degrees (Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 2008). In 2009, the
U.S. Department of Education reported that White students are three times as likely to obtain a
bachelors degree when compared to Hispanic students and gaps in bachelors degree attainment
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 5
are also significant between White-Black students and students from high and low socio-
economic backgrounds.
The U.S. has instated policies to address the gaps in college admission and completion by
students’ demographics. One policy used to remedy the college attainment gap is providing
need-based financial assistance via federal financial aid programs. Another policy used to close
the gap involved admission policies such as affirmative action. Each of the above mentioned
policies while have been helpful have failed to eliminate the gaps in achievement of bachelor’s
degree. Financial aid flaws lye with not being easily understood as to how to access funds or in
its existence (Dynarski & Scott-Clayton, 2006). Race conscious admission policies failed to
successfully eliminate gaps in achievement by only allowing for limited numbers of students to
attend highly selective institutions (Long, 2004). Pre-college programs have been described as
another remedy separate from financial aid and affirmative action policies. These programs
focus on preparing students to succeed in college by providing students with the skills and
knowledge to gain access to college (Swail, 2000).
Statement of the Problem
A college education provides a strong foundation of values such as truth, justice, and
diversity that help to prepare students to become active citizens in society (Marx, 2006). While
access and opportunity are promoted by higher education institutions, the issue remains that
disparities exist among under-represented minority students and students from low-income
backgrounds obtaining college degrees. In 2008, 37 percent of Whites aged 25 to 29 completed
a baccalaureate degree compared with only 20 percent of African Americans and 12 percent of
Hispanics (U.S. Department of Education, 2009). If education is a social equalizer, this disparity
in attaining a higher education is harmful because it limits an individuals’ ability for greater
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 6
social mobility (Carter, 2006). Individuals who do not go to college are more often faced with
higher rates of unemployment, underemployment, and poverty (Marx, 2006).
Completion of a college education is not only a significant personal achievement for a
young adult, it is beneficial in terms of the earnings a person will obtain within the labor market,
and the contributions they will make to society as a whole. Median earnings for men and women
who work full time between the ages of 25-34 will be over 60% higher than for people with a
bachelor’s degree when compared with men and women with only a high school diploma (U.S.
Department of Education, 2007). While reaping the economic benefits associated with being
college educated is personally rewarding for an individual and their families, Astin (1993) and
Bowen and Bok (1998) find that these individuals also tend to have a greater civic orientation,
are more likely to vote, and take on leadership roles within their communities that serve a greater
public good for society.
Purpose of the Study
Pre-college programs such as the federally funded TRIO programs attempt to assist low
income first generation students from the 9
th
-12
th
grades in gaining entrance to a four year
institution upon high school graduation by providing mentoring, tutoring, and academic
preparation for college life. The US Department of Education reported in 2005 that 65% of
participants in a federally funded pre-college program do enroll in college after high school, but
these students will continue to need additional resources once reaching college in order to
perform favorably against their counterparts and successfully matriculate through graduation.
Critics of pre-college programs are not convinced that students who participate in pre-college
programs fair better than their peers who did not participate because programs have not been
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 7
subjected to rigorous evaluation leaving the effectiveness of pre-college program approaches
unknown.
This study explores the role pre-college programs have in continuing to aid and provide
necessary resources to low-income first generation students while in college. This study will
examine the benefits the college students receive from giving back to younger students from
similar low-income first generation backgrounds, and if being nurtured by the pre-college
program as a college student helps students gain social and cultural capital and find the support
and resources to persist in their current degree program. The study examines what retention
efforts or student services are or are not being provided from the current higher education
institution the student attends or attended and how the students connection or relationship with
their pre-college program are continuing to provide support and assistance once in college.
This study aims to investigate the benefits former pre-college participants returning to
mentor high school students receive and how returning to give back to their pre-college program
as a college student impacts their progress towards college completion. To gather this data,
former pre-college participants of a federally funded program that have returned to work during
the summer residential component as college students are interviewed for this qualitative study.
The participants for the study all have currently or formerly attended a four-year university. The
respondents are asked to reflect on their institutional and individual experiences while in college
and how mentoring high school pre-college students and returning to their pre-college program
has impacted them.
The data collected from this study is imperative to the future of pre-college programs
including the federally funded program used for this study which has recently endured severe
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 8
budget cuts with as many as 1 in every 3 programs projected to be cut in the near future. The
following research questions will guide this study:
Q: What is the impact of mentoring low-income first generation students on former pre-college
program participants who are returning to work at their host program?
Q: How does returning to work for a pre-college program that a student once participated in help
with gaining social and cultural capital while at the college level?
Theoretical framework
This study utilizes social capital (transfer of networks) and cultural capital theory
(transfer of practices) to examine how the pre-college program used for this study are teaching
forms of social mobility even beyond their high school experience. Networks and relationships
that facilitate or hinder connections are critical in a group maintaining class positioning such as
talking to other students about college visits, learning which outreach programs offer the most
resources, or knowing students from higher class standings to be able to set study dates (Portes,
1998; Stanton Salazar, 1997). Bourdieu (1983) argues that social capital itself is not enough,
rather the extent to which an individual takes advantage of their community resources to improve
their own economic position while learning to trust and reciprocate what is learned is necessary.
Not all students take advantage of resources offered or are willing to reciprocate the investment
that is made into them. This study aims to evaluate students who did take advantage of resources
by participating in a pre-college program, the impact reciprocating what they learned to younger
students has on them, and lastly how maintaining connection to the program staff impacts them
as college students.
Cultural capital examines forms of class power through specific practices. Knowing
forms of etiquette, attending museums and theatre performances are all ways the middle and
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 9
upper classes have special membership thorough cultural capital. The pre-college program used
for this study attempts to provide students with the experiences to gain cultural capital through
participation as a high school student and this study examines if gains of cultural capital continue
once students are in college through continued contact and participation with the program.
Significance of the Study
Policymakers have long questioned the effectiveness of pre-college programs in
contributing to closing the achievement gap between those from high and low socio-economic
status students and those from underrepresented racial groups when compared to white students
obtaining entrance and being retained in higher education. This study’s focus helps to provide
information about the significance of pre-college programs on college students once attending a
4 year university and how returning to work or volunteer for the program as a college student
assists with persistence towards completing their educational goals. The qualitative information
provided from former pre-college participants from this study provides current higher education
institutions a lens for assessing their current retention efforts and in helping to find gaps in
services that students are finding from the pre-college program that may be lacking at the
university level.
Definition of Terms
Cultural capital – knowledge that enables an individual to interpret various cultural codes- the
ways of talking, acting, moving, dressing, socializing, tastes, likes and dislikes, competencies,
and forms of knowledge that distinguish one group from another (Bourdieu, 1977,1986).
Economically disadvantaged – Refers to students who come from families that face financial
constraints and are unable to consider higher education as a result (Renick, 2006).
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 10
First Generation – Refers to students whose parents have attained education at or below the
high school level and therefore will be the first in their families to attend an institution of higher
education.
Institutional agents- individuals who have the capacity to transmit directly or to negotiate the
transmission of institutional resources and opportunities such as information about school
programs, academic tutoring and mentoring, and assistance with career decision-making
(Stanton-Salazar, 1997)
Low income student- student whose parent have income at or below 150 percent of the federal
poverty level (Myers & Schrim, 1999)
Persistence – Refers to a student who remains at the same institution for the duration of a degree
program and graduates with a degree within six years.
Pre-college program- An outreach program that a student participates in prior to attending an
institution of higher education. Customarily the programs are university or college-based
providing academic outreach to middle and high school students. Programs vary by size,
duration, campus, population served and services offered.
Postsecondary education – Any education received at a 2 or 4 year institution after high school.
Pre-college programs- elementary and secondary intervention programs designed to increase
college-going rates of groups historically underrepresented in postsecondary education (National
Postsecondary Education Cooperative, 2001)
Retention – Refers to a student who has remained enrolled a the same institution for consecutive
semesters.
Social capital – A concept that refers to the social connections within and between social
networks as well as connections among individuals.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 11
Socioeconomic status (SES) – A combination of social and economic factors that are used as an
indicator of household income and/or opportunity. Based on parents’ educational status and
level of family income.
TRIO – The federal TRIO Programs (TRIO) are Federal outreach and student services
programs designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged
backgrounds which are administered, funded and implemented by the US Department of
Education. Upward Bound, Talent Search and Student Support Services are the names of the
original programs that make up TRIO.
Underrepresented – Refers to a subpopulation of students that is inadequately represented in
higher education given the proportion of the overall population.
Organization of the Study
Chapter 1 provided an introduction to the study, background and statement of the
problem, purpose of the study, significance of the study, limitations, definitions of terms, and
organizational layout for the remainder of the study. Chapter 2 reviews relevant literature for
this study that pertains to pre-college programs and mentoring research. This includes issues of
college access especially for low-income first generation students and the role pre-college
programs have had in preparing students for higher education in their efforts to close the
achievement gap. Chapter 2 provides a theoretical framework with the role social and cultural
capital theory plays in providing equitable access. Chapter 3 includes a description of the
research design, methodology, and procedures for data collection and analysis. Chapter 4
presents the research evidence and findings for the study. Chapter 5 discusses the implications
of the study, recommendations for future research and concluding thoughts.

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 12

Chapter Two: Literature Review

This literature review is organized into four sections to provide historical context,
previous research and theoretical grounding for the research question presented in Chapter 1,
which is: What are the affects of being a mentor to pre-college program participants for first
generation college students who previously participated in the program? The first section will
examine the roles that institutions of higher education and the university environment have on
low-income first generation students in terms of student development, campus climate, and
academic success. The university’s function in creating effective strategies regarding retention
efforts and ensuring student persistence will be explored. The second section offers an
educational context for low-income first generation students and highlights significant barriers
that this population of students face in progressing from secondary to higher education. The
history and role of pre-college programs on impacting low-income first generation students is
discussed. The significance of pre-college program efforts to close the achievement gap and
provide resources and access to low income students will be discussed. The third section
examines: (1) mentoring literature, (2) the history of mentoring in relation to college going
students, and (3) the impacts of mentoring for low-income first generation students as mentees
and mentors. The final section discusses the theoretical framework to be used in this study. This
project uses social and cultural capital theory. There is a specific emphasis on how students that
once participated in a pre-college program as adolescents give back as college students may
serve as institutional agents when working for the program as mentors.
Institutional role for first generation students
A non-supportive educational environment can be detrimental to a first generation
student by negatively affecting a students’ self-efficacy and inhibiting students from reaching
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 13
their educational potential (Hurtado & Ponjuan, 2005). Common obstacles that Thayer (2000)
highlights as areas of concern to institutions include the lack of financial resources, lack of
academic preparation, lack of knowledge of campus environments including academic
expectations, and a lack of family support. Thayer (2000) concludes that the institutional
interventions should: “ease the difficulties of the transition to college, mitigate to some degree
the cultural conflict students encounter between home and college community, and help to create
a more supportive, welcoming campus environment” (p.5). Tinto’s research (1993; 1998)
provides direction to help institutions with the implementation of support services for low
income first generation students which included: balancing academic and social adjustment
issues, developing communities to serve as a support system including mentors inside and
outside of the classroom, students feeling of academic competence, promoting student
involvement through student activities, and learning communities as a strategy for retention.
Student engagement and community service
Faculty and student affairs administrators have promoted student participation in
community service and civic engagement. The goals of these programs are to positively impact
students’ developmental and academic growth. Another aim of these services is to increase
participation in service to the community after college. Finally, research has shown that these
programs aid in retention efforts by providing a sense of community and connectedness through
service (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991, 2005; Sax, 2000). The idea of participating in community
service and civic engagement as a college student to support a students development and
academic achievement aligns with the research conducted for this study focusing on the affects
of serving as a mentors and “giving back” to their own support program.

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 14
Low-income first generation students
Although the benefits of obtaining a college degree make it appealing, there are several
barriers that make the pursuit of a post secondary education particularly challenging for young
adults from low-income families and from families in which neither parent completed a college
degree (U.S. Department of Education, 2001). A common obstacle students face in enrolling for
college and completing a college degree include poor academic preparation (St. John et al.,
2002; Avery and Kane, 2004). A National Education Longitudinal Study (1988-1994) found that
only half of high school graduates from low-income families are academically ready for the rigor
of attending a four-year institution (U.S. Department of Education, 1997). High-poverty schools
where low-income students traditionally attend high school have a higher percentage of lower
quality teachers, which can be associated with lower achievement on standardized tests (Peske
and Haycock, 2006). Race is a factor when evaluating schools that serve low-income
communities due to concerning achievement gaps between white students and underrepresented
minorities. The National Assessment of Educational Progress reported in 2005 that 37 percent of
white eight-grade students were classified as proficient in mathematics in 2005, as compared
with 8 percent for African-American students in the same grade. The achievement gap was
consistent in the area of reading where 37 percent of low-income white eight-graders were
proficient while only 11 percent of African-Americans were proficient (U.S. Department of
Education, 2005).
Even when controlling for academic ability, family income remains an influence in a
students’ likelihood of entering and completing college. Students from lower incomes that
performed in the top third on standardized tests were five times more likely to skip college than
high school students (Akerhielm et al. 1998). Students from families in the lower income
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 15
quartiles are far less likely than those in higher income quartiles to earn a bachelors degree by
the age of 24. Those in the top family income quartile were found to complete a baccalaureate
degree at a 74% rate as compared to 5% for those in the bottom income quartile. (Mortenson,
1998). A study conducted by Ottinger (1991) found that high ability seniors from higher
income backgrounds were more likely to attain a bachelor’s degree than seniors that were labeled
as high ability from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Even when a first generation low-income student meets the qualifications for college
admissions, these students may remain at a disadvantage due to their lack of knowledge about
the college choice process. This population of students lacks awareness of distinction among
various institutions and how to properly select an institution that will best fit their needs
(Roderick, et al., 2008). Therefore, despite academic credentials that would suggest a student
would choose a more selective institution, low-income and minority students tend to choose less
selective institutions to attend (Bowen, et al., 2009; Roderick, et al., 2008). This is crucial for
low-income and minority students considering that students who attend less selective schools
become more likely to drop out during college as institutional selectivity is positively correlated
to persistence and completion even when accounting for their academic credentials (Bowen, et
al., 2009).
Another barrier facing first generation students is their level of preparation for college,
which is found to be lower than their non-first generation peers. Riehl’s 1994 study found that
first generation students were less prepared by having lower SAT scores and high school grade
point averages when compared to students that were not first generation in a single institution
sample. More important than test scores and high school GPA, Adelman (1999) found college
readiness by the correlation between the depth and intensity of a student’s high school
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 16
curriculum to be a leading indicator of obtaining a bachelor’s degree. In addition, the correlation
is found to be even stronger for African American and Hispanic students suggesting that
receiving a strong college preparatory curriculum is imperative for the success of minority
students in college (Adelman, 1999).
Financing a college education is another factor that affects students from lower income
families and the college-going decision making process. Students are less likely to enroll in
college as the price of tuition increases (Heller, 1997), yet students are more likely to enroll in
college and persist when they receive funding (Paulsen & St. John, 2002). Perna (2006)
developed a conceptual framework based on a review of prior research to understand student’s
college enrollment decisions. The model provides four layers that shape college enrollment
decisions for students: the student and family context; the school and community context; the
higher education context; and the broader social, economic, and policy context (Perna, 2006).
Perna (2006) suggests that students make decisions about higher education by comparing the
costs to the benefits, which for low-income students can be problematic if their schools,
community, and family lack the information or resources to assist in properly comparing the cost
benefit.
Pre-College Programs
President Johnson’s War on Poverty of the 1960’s lead to the Department of Education
authorizing Title IV of the Higher Education Act to address financial and class barriers to
students who wanted to pursue a postsecondary education but lacked the information and
financial means to gain access to colleges and universities. The governments efforts to create
student financial aid and pre-college intervention programs were intended to address the
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 17
financial, cultural, social, and academic difficulties faced by disadvantaged students (Perna,
2002).
The creation of federally funded TRIO Programs started the push for pre-college
programs, which presently operate in every state (College Board, 2000). The first federal funded
outreach programs established to make up TRIO were Upward Bound, Talent Search, and
Student Support Services. Today while the original three programs remain in existence, the
federal government has grown outreach programs to include Educational Opportunity Centers,
Ronald E. McNair Postbaccaleureate Achievement Program, and the Upward Bound
Math/Science Program, which addresses the need for specific instruction in the fields of math
and science. The PUENTE program, Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for
Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID),
are other examples of pre-college programs that are integrated with the regular middle or high
school experiences as opposed to the supplemental school experiences that programs such as
Upward Bound and Talent Search provide.
Pre-college intervention programs to assist low-income first generation students can be
run at various levels such as local, state, and the federal government, universities, K-12 schools,
and community organizations (Gandara & Bial, 2001). The College Board, Education Resources
Institute, and the Council for Opportunity in Education conducted a study in 1999 identifying
where outreach programs are based and found that more than half (57%) are based at a college or
university, 16% operate out of a school, and 13% in the community (Swail & Perna, 2002).
Tierney (2002) found significant diversity among pre-college programs that exist today, which
has created challenges for researchers who aim to compare and contrast pre-college programs
and find best practices for student outcomes.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 18
Due to a lack of pre-college outreach programs subjected to rigorous evaluation, the
effectiveness of the pre-college approach is generally unknown. However, evaluations of
postsecondary transition programs such as Talent Search and the College Opportunity and Career
Help program (COACH) indicate that inspiring and providing low-income students with
resources for college at the right time can significantly increase their rates of college enrollment
(Constantine et al. 2006; Avery and Kane 2004). Upward Bound, one of the oldest and longest-
running federal pre-college programs for low-income students has surprisingly had few large
scale evaluations.
In 1992, The U.S. Department of Education funded Mathematica Policy Research to
determine the effectiveness of Upward Bound. The Council for Opportunity in Education has
revealed critical design problems from the $14 million multi-part 12-year study that was released
at the end of the Bush administration, labeling the Upward Bound Program as “ineffective.” The
results from this longitudinal study have had negative effects on federal funding for low-income
and first generation students in their pursuit of higher education. The COE has found several
biases within the study through their investigation and continues to ask the Department of
Education to withdraw the findings from public sources until the flaws can be corrected,
therefore the timeliness of this study is important to exposing positive testimonies of pre-college
programs continued benefits long after program completion.
Organizations such as the College Board (2000) and the Center for Higher Education
Policy Analysis (2003) have taken the challenge to define the traits that constitute a pre-college
program. Swail & Perna (2000) describe pre-college programs as comprised of elementary and
secondary students that are educationally or economically disadvantaged and in need of access
and resources to be successful in college. Perna (2009) limited the definition of pre-college
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 19
programs to be those that guarantee scholarships or financial support for participation. Students
targeted for participation vary among pre-college programs as well, for example some programs
focus on increasing racial underrepresented students from urban areas, while others use SES and
parent education as qualifying indicators. This allows for rural students and racial majority
students from low-income families to access pre-college program services.
The term “at risk” is often used in reference to students who qualify and participate in
pre-college programs therefore it is important to highlight past research on the identified factors
for students that were at risk of not attending college due to dropping out of high school.
Kaufman and Bradby (1992) identified the following to be drop out factors for “at risk” students:
• Lowest socio-economic quartile
• Single-parent household
• Older sibling has previously dropped out of school
• Moving schools two or more times between grades 1-8
• Grade point average of a C or below during middle school
• Repeating a grade between grades 1-8
For the purpose of this study, the students who were former pre-college participants involved in
this study have met the federal guidelines for acceptance into a federally funded pre-college
program which include:
• Low-income based on federal guidelines
• First generation (neither parent completed a four year degree)
• Demonstrated need based on low educational aspirations, attending low achieving school,
or academic need.

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 20
College Access in K-12 - Counselors
The role of pre-college programs is essential considering the lack of accountability built
into the K-12 system in regards to college enrollment.
“ Advantaged college applicants and their parents constantly stack the deck in
their own favor by improvising counseling supports. In contrast,
underrepresented minorities who are primarily first-generation college bound are
making their college access decisions in the post-affirmative action era
constrained by lack of individual, parental, and school college knowledge and
experience; lack of trained professionals to advise them; and often in a climate of
presumed lack of merit, racial hostility, and unwelcomeness.” (p.85, Tierney,
Corwin & Colyar, 2003)

Despite the inequities that exist in college access for underrepresented first generation students,

these students have to rely on the limited resources available to them. Counselors have been
utilized as the best choice to assist with enrolling students in college yet they are not properly
trained and suffer constraints due to other job responsibilities such as class scheduling and the
overwhelming numbers of student to advisor ratio in urban school settings (McDonough, 2005).
McDonough (1998) states that college plans do not happen without the encouragement of a
school’s culture and that this type of culture and influential messages that students receive from
school staff happens early on. Students can be tracked and deterred from viewing themselves as
potential future college enrollees, which reinforces the importance a supportive school counselor
can have on a student (McClafferty & McDonough, 2000).
Mentoring
Supportive school counselors in the K-12 system can be instrumental, however as previously
mentioned, the shortage of counseling staff can lead students to other forms of guidance such as
mentoring. Although institutions of higher education have failed to come to a consensus
regarding a standard definition for mentoring (Dickey, 1996; Johnson, 1989; Miller, 2002),
mentoring has been defined as a one-on-one relationship between an individual with less
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 21
experience learning and developing competencies from a person who is experienced in a given
field (Brown et al., 1999; Murray, 2001). A meta-analysis on mentoring literature conducted by
Jacobi (1991), evaluated mentoring through multiple lenses and industries. The study found that
the long list of mentoring definitions suggests the difficulty to synthesize the functions of
mentoring into a single definition. Mentoring takes on a different meaning to different people.
While Jacobi (1991) concluded that there is not enough empirical evidence to find mentoring
programs effective, he did identify three commonalities of mentoring that researchers agree to
hold true. The first is that mentoring deals with the growth of a person that results from multiple
forms of assistance. The second finding is that mentoring experiences are diverse in forms.
Lastly, Jacobi found and that mentoring is personal and reciprocal.
Mentoring forms and experiences can occur as informal mentoring where the relationship is
informally developed naturally over time. Informal mentoring can also develop within the
context of a fixed formal mentoring relationship (Campbell & Campbell, 1997; Chao et. al.,
1992, Luna & Cullen, 1995). Mentoring research while flawed by definition, methods, and
theory (Crisp & Cruz, 2009; Jacobi, 1991), remain consistent in pointing to mentoring as a
means of promoting student success and performance through outcomes. These outcomes
include: increased grade point averages, self-confidence, intellectual and critical thinking skills,
future aspirations, and persisting in college (Astin, 1999; Bank, Slavings, & Biddle, 1990;
Campbell & Campbell, 1997; Kahveci, Southerland, & Gilmer, 2006; Sorrentino, 2007; Wallace,
Abel, & Ropers-Huilman, 2000).
Traditional models of mentoring view the mentor as a source of wisdom guidance and
expertise, while a current theory by Zachary (2000) proposes mentoring as a mutual learning
process in which both parties, the mentor and the mentee gain from the relationship. Zachary
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 22
(2000) further describes that together the mentor and mentee take risks, grow and develop
together, accept each other despite flaws, and set goals together that later they together can
celebrate in their successes. While Zachary’s (2000) mentoring model is in relation to the
exchange between the mentoring relationship of two adults, other scholars have found positive
outcomes achieved in people closer in age through peer mentoring relationships in programs that
involve youth (Deutsch & Spencer, 2009; Hall, 2006). Despite the majority of studies focused
on peer mentoring benefits to the mentee, Shepard (2009) found that college students that mentor
at-risk youth find a deeper sense of purpose for their own lives.
Mentoring underrepresented populations in college preparation programs
Several college preparation programs use mentors to benefit students by providing them
access to mentors of the same racial or ethnic background that can influence them positively
(Gandara et al, 1998). Matching students up with a mentor of a similar background does not
solely influence students, rather outcomes are dependent on the quality of the relationship that is
built between mentor and mentee. Research suggests that students that have been involved in a
committed, long term relationship with their mentor during the college preparation stage will
have college enrollment rates that are double the rates of their peers that did not participate in a
college preparation program and have an active mentor (Kahne and Baily, 1999). Research by
Kahne and Baily (1999) revealed that those students involved in precollege programs with
multiple mentors who lacked the dedication and time commitment to mentoring produced only
minimal improvements on college enrollment rates.
A qualitative study conducted by Wallace, Abel, and Ropers-Huilman (2000) of 20 students
who were participants in a federal funded program designed to serve low-income first generation
students at both the pre-college and college phases, found that formal and informal mentoring
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 23
relationships were essential in supporting students through the college going process. In this
study a lack of informal mentoring relationships were found to hinder some students. Students
voiced an equal importance of informal mentoring relationships which were identified to help
with discovers such as career interests as well as the formal mentoring relationships which were
found to help students persist through college by increasing a student’ self-esteem through
empowerment, assisting with navigation of the university system, and providing students with a
feeling that people care about their success (Wallace, Abel, and Ropers-Huilman, 2000).
Peer Mentoring
Mentoring relationships between faculty and staff with college students have been tradition in
higher education. However mentoring relationships and their definitions are changing.
Undergraduate students are being more frequently used as peer mentors, which calls into
question the value that previously was placed on distinguishing a considerable age difference
between mentors and mentees (Jacobi, 1991). Universities have implemented mentoring efforts
to increase retention rates among students particularly those that were insufficiently prepared for
college (Quinn, Muldoon, and Hollingworth, 2002). Mee-lee & Bush (2003) found that
increases in retention and graduation rates were the result of mentoring programs that offer
support to students with academic deficiencies and adaptation problems during their first year in
college.
While there is no universal definition of peer mentoring just as previously mentioned with
mentoring in general, Tinto (1993) provides a definition of someone viewed as a role-model that
an individual can relate to that has successfully navigated a majority institution. Positive effects
of peer mentoring include advanced interpersonal and communication skills for mentors as well
as enhanced qualities of patience and compassion that is received by both mentors and mentees
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 24
(Vaidya, 1994). McLean (2004) noted other beneficial aspects of peer mentoring to include
maturation, development of time management skills, and a greater sense of responsibility. Peer
mentoring is also known to increase self-esteem, academic self-efficacy as well as general
satisfaction within an academic program (Ferrari, 2004). In addition, peer mentoring is found to
positively influence career choices for students as well as in perseverance of educational goals
and achievement in higher education (Brown, David & McClendon, 1999; Ferrari, 2004; Packard
2003).
Peer Groups
Several studies have reported on the vital role peer groups play for underrepresented students
transitioning to college. Colyar (2003) conducted a study of Black and Latino first year students
at a top university and found that peers groups were essential to a student’s integration to
university life. Similarly, Gandara, O’Hara, & Gutierrez (1995) found that peers play an
important role in persistence and achievement through: 1) peer competition and validation and 2)
a resource for academic gain and common cultural interests.
Venegas and Tierney (2005) conducted a study on peer groups and how they impact
postsecondary access, persistence, and overall college going culture within the context of college
preparation programs for Latino urban high school students. The study found that peer culture of
pre-college programs provides students with cultural capital needed for college entrance and the
social skills necessary to navigate the university once attending.
“Rather than assume that college is an alien world where the individual has to
struggle to fit in, the college preparation programs we studied encourage students
to think of themselves as bonded within a peer group of similar individuals who
can transition and succeed in postsecondary education.” (p. 15, Venegas and
Tierney, 2005).

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 25
The study discussed the image of those students that were connected to a pre-college program
peer group as they were observed proudly advertising their membership to the program with t-
shirts and backpacks. The study also provided testimonies of a program participant who
described their relationship as “bonded like a family” and another student who spoke of the
importance of belonging to a group that you can feel comfortable with.
The benefits of peer mentoring and of belonging to or having peer group membership through
college preparatory programs previously described in the literature provides perspective to the
participants for this research study and evoke questions. Specifically, what gains are former per-
college program participants experiencing by returning to work for their per-college program
once at the university level? Are these students returning because of the “family like”
atmosphere and bond that was previously mentioned and how does this relate to how they have
adjusted to the university community they are apart of? Lastly, how does working for the
program during the summer break benefit the former pre-college participant once returning to
their respective institutions?
Theoretical Frameworks
The college going rate for students in public and private schools have increased but these
increased rates are not even among schools particularly those schools with higher number of
low-income students (NCES, 2006). Kirst (2004) found fewer than 10% of underrepresented
high school students entering college, which has largely been explained by stating these students
were underprepared for the rigors of college. Research suggests reasons for the disparity in
college going rates to include a lack of information regarding courses needed to gain entrance to
college or a lack of advanced level courses offered in urban and rural schools. While those
explanations may be valid, the implication made is that many of these students would have gone
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 26
to college if they were born into a different setting or financial circumstance. From a theoretical
perspective these students may have lacked the social and cultural capital that adversely affects
many minority and low-income students (Gonzalez, Stone, & Jovel, 2003).
A consistent theme throughout research literature stresses the importance for strong social and
academic support networks in order for socio-economically disadvantaged students to have a
successful transition from highs school to college (Adelman, 2006; Martinez & Klopott, 2003;
Neoeth & Wimberly, 2002). The body of research that explains these social and academic
networks is defined as social capital (Bourdieu, 1973, 1977; Bourdieu & Passerson, 1977;
Colemen, 1988; Gonzalez et al., 2003; Lareau & McNamara-Horvat, 1999; Putnam, 2000). For
the purpose of this study underrepresented students that were former pre-college participants will
discuss social and cultural capital gained through their participation with the program. This
study aims to examine the impact passing down social capital to younger students has on first
generation students as well as if returning to work for the pre-college they are a product of
continues to provide them with social and cultural capital as college students.
Social Capital Theory
Social capital is defined as the value of social relations (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990;
Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 1995, 2000). Social capital as referenced in the field of education or
sociology have centered on the works of Pierre Bourdieu (1973, 1977) who took an individual
approach concerned with how the social relations of groups and classes are reproduced and the
role of culture in this process. Bourdieu (1973, 1977) claimed that people intentionally built
relationships based on the benefits that those relationships would provide them in the future. An
example provided by Bourdieu (1973) provided examples of prestigious individuals who have
social capital at their disposal due to the capital of relationships and skills being inherited which
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 27
emphasizes the importance institutionalized power has on individuals achieving social mobility
(Akom, 2006; Lareau & McNamera-Horvat, 1999).
In addition Coleman’s framework (1988), which looks at the individual, family and
community took an interest in explaining the relation between stratification and educational
outcomes (McGonigal et al., 2005). Coleman’s work “established school performance as being
influenced by the nature of the relations and patterns of interaction between the home, the school
and the local community”, (MonGonigal et al., 2005, p. 5). Coleman (1988, 1990) proposed that
social capital be examined in three different forms: 1) the measure of trustworthiness of the
social environment, 2) the information flow network (the ability for useful information to
circulate between different members of the community), and 3) the presence of norms and
effective sanctions (how well a community’s rules and laws are defined and enforced).
Coleman’s concept of social capital comes with criticism for failure to address societal
conditions that allow for some community to acquire multiple forms of capital while other
communities are subjected to inferior services, unequal schools, and a lack of job opportunities
due to class or racial discrimination (Stanton-Salazar, 2001).
Putnam (2000) provides a definition of social capital that is group oriented. For example
relying on neighbors to watch your house when you are way for a long time, or a community
being able to deal with a problem together. Putnam’s (2000) definition of social capital is more
reciprocal and does not allow for an individual to have social capital on one’s own as in
Bourdieu’s terms. Putnam distinguished two types of social capital, bonding and bridging
(Putnam 2000). Bonding social capital explains as exclusive and helps individuals get by, while
bridging is inclusive and helps individuals get ahead. Bonding examples provided by Putnam
(2000) include being in an ethnic fraternal organization or a church based group referring to
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 28
relations amongst relatively homogenous groups with strong ties such as family or close friends.
Distant friends, associates, and colleagues are referenced as bridging social capital (Putnam,
2000). Bridging social capital have ties that are weaker but serve as more important in “getting
ahead” for example with religious organizations or civil rights movements (Putnam, 2000). A
third type of social capital, linking, focuses on the relationship between individuals and groups in
different social strata (Cote & Healy, 2001). Linking social capital reaches out to unlike people
in dissimilar situations such as people completely outside of the community, which enables
members to gain a wider range of resources than what is available within the community
(Woolcock, 2001).
Critics of social capital highlight potential negative implications such as placing the burden of
social change on the individual or on communities of color, which in turn perpetuate White
privilege (Akom, 2006). Akom (2006) argues that social capital allows for racialized social
practices and public policies to continue and remain invisible. Portes (1988) highlighted four
negative consequences of social capital ultimately resulting in social control: 1) exclusion of
outsiders therefore not requiring economic exchange outside of the community, 2) excessive
claims on group members, 3) restrictions on individual freedom or demand for conformity, and
4) downward leveling norms which keeps members stagnant in the community and forces more
ambitious members to leave.
For the purpose of this study, social capital is viewed positively as a resource and social
benefit through the trust and norms established from participation in social networks. Low-
income first generation students lack the advantage of having college-educated parents or other
family members to guide them on their road to college (Gonzalez et al., 2003). It is therefore
critical for these students to have the support and assistance from the person they have developed
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 29
a trusting relationship and be provided social networks through their pre-college program
involvement not only in high school but also in college. The knowledge and norms that are
enforced by pre-college programs compensate for the lack of college knowledge and
expectations that existed in the student’s social network prior to participation in the program. As
the student experiences the benefits from the knowledge and norms enforced from the program
staff and other stakeholders, the students’ trust in the program grows. This study will examine
the empowerment these students get as college students when they take the capital they have
gained to mentor younger students from similar backgrounds and examine the social capital the
mentor gains while returning to work for the program.
Cultural Capital
Cultural capital is defined by Bourdieu (1977, 1984, 1986) as culturally relevant and
culturally valued knowledge, skills, and preferences unconsciously passed down through status
groups. Cultural capital is not explicitly taught within schools; therefore the most common
teachers of cultural capital are parents. Parents pass on knowledge, skills, and preferences to
their children unknowingly and inadvertently endow their children with cultural capital
(Bourdieu, 1977). Bourdieu (1977, 1984, 1986) further describes the concept of cultural capital
as a mechanism by which the elite pass on their social state to their children as a means of
promoting and maintaining social inequality through generations.
The cultural capital associated with college attendance and completion must be supplied to
low income under represented minority students through direct programmatic intervention such
as pre-college programs. Pre-college programs encourage college aspirations and seek to alter
their views on their possibility for college attendance. By exposing student to academia and
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 30
providing students with knowledge about college, pre-college programs attempt to provide
students with the cultural capital necessary to enter and be successful in college.
Mentoring Theory
Mentoring relationships often result in improved outcomes for students, however most
mentoring programs lack a theory of action to make a causal link between the intervention of the
program and the outcomes for students. The theoretical frameworks for mentoring: (1)
development, (2) identity, (3) guidance, and (4) family support, provide a theory of action or
rationale for why these programs do what they do to engage students (Gandara et al., 1999).
The implicit theory behind mentoring programs from a developmental perspective is based on
an assumption that mentoring programs overwhelmingly target adolescents during a period in
their lives that is filled with stress and turmoil (Csikzentmihalyi & Schmidt, 1998). This turmoil
is heightened for students in disadvantaged environments who seek acceptance from their peers
who often are negative influences. Gandara & Mejarado (2005) stated,
“The implicit theory behind these programs is that mentoring can directly affect
the healthy development of a young person at risk for negative developmental
outcomes by providing emotional support and unconditional acceptance during a
difficult period in the young person’s life, thereby obviating the sole reliance on
peers for personal validation” (p. 95).

Research supports that adolescents will develop a stable sense of self, if offered a supportive
environment to navigate this period in their life (Cooper & Cooper, 1992). In low-income
families having an extended kinship network can also serve as a buffer to protect students from
environmental stressors, distress and alienation (Stanton-Salazar, 2001). “Theoretically, mentors
can affirm the self-worth of such marginalized students while interpreting the cultural norms of
the dominate society to them and helping them to establish a healthy identity in an otherwise
hostile social context” (p. 96, Gandara & Mejorado, (2005).
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 31
Identity framework views mentoring as a part of the process of identity development that
occurs during adolescents as referenced from Erikson’s (1968) theory that during this time a
young person is exploring different personas in search of an integrated ego identity. Identity
framework assumes that mentors serving as role models to youth can help them to positively
shape their identity which is significant considering the way an adolescent views him or herself
correlates with post-high school aspirations and their future educational and career paths
(Gandara & Mejorado, 2005). Mentors and programs providing a mentoring component are
found to be especially important for low-income minority youth where there are limited role
models exhibiting social and economic success (Gandara, 2002).
Guidance framework refers to the process in which students are provided with information
and guidance in preparing for college admission, which ultimately influences their decision to
attend college. “The operating assumption of programs that adapt a guidance model is that
students lack certain kinds of information and personal networks (social capital) and class-based
knowledge and habits (cultural capital) that promote successful academic outcomes and that
these can be provided at least in part, by a mentor” (p. 98, Gandara & Mejorado, 2005).
Therefore, social capital can be provided to a student through counseling and linking students
with networks of people to assist them with their educational pursuits. Cultural capital can also
be passed to students by providing them with a mentor who exposes them to cultural events,
college culture, and campus visits.
The final framework of mentoring theory, family support, is based on mentors reinforcing the
role of parents and strengthening the relationship between student and parent. Mentors can assist
parents in providing their students with pertinent information regarding their education and
future and lend credibility (Gandora & Mejorado, 2005).
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 32
The identity framework of mentoring theory is used in this study to assess if the college
students who are returning to be role models to youth are utilizing the mentorship and support of
the pre-college program to help shape their own identity and educational paths such as the
younger students do. Is the pre-college participants role solely to give back and provide
mentorship to younger students? Are they seeking identity development, support and social
capital for themselves that they believe they will gain from returning to work for their pre-
college program? This study aims to reveal how former pre-college participants are impacted as
individuals from the mentoring and work experience when returning to their host program.
Summary
This chapter focuses on access, success, and mentoring for low-income first generation
students. The history of pre-college programs was explored. The chapter shows that while there
is a diversity of programs that exist, only a minimal amount of research has been conducted to
support their effectiveness in impacting students especially after matriculation to college. The
history of mentoring literature was reviewed as well as how mentoring impacts low-income first
generation students as both mentors and mentees. Lastly, the theoretical framework of
mentoring theory, which incorporates social and cultural capital theory, was reviewed and will
be utilized to further guide this study.

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 33
Chapter Three: Methodology

As stated in previous chapters, pre-college programs play a pivotal role in providing the
resources and social capital necessary for low-income first generation students to access higher
education (Perna, 2002), yet there is a lack of research in regards to these programs and their
benefits. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the experiences of former pre-
college students who return to work for their pre-college program and how this mentoring
experience impacts them. As highlighted in Chapter 1, the main research questions for this study
are:
• What is the impact of mentoring low-income first generation students on former pre-
college program participants who are returning to work at their host program?
• How does returning to work for a pre-college program that a student once participated in
help with gaining social and cultural capital while at the college level?
This chapter explains the methodology used for this research study by providing a rationale
for the research design followed by an overview of the selection and procedures including the
sampling and data collection/analyzing process. This chapter concludes by discussing any
research bias or limitations influential to the study and preventative measures that are exercised
to address these concerns.
Research Design
A qualitative research design is used in this study to capture the voice of the stories of
former pre-college participants and provide in depth documentation of their experiences as
mentors. Patton (1985) describes qualitative research as an effort to understand the nature of a
setting and the uniqueness of what the experiences and interactions are for participants in a
particular setting. Additionally, Creswell (2005) described qualitative research as a justifiable
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 34
method of educational research in which researchers rely on listening to the views of participants
by asking general open-ended questions, collecting data in places where people live and work,
and research that plays a role in advocating for change.
Sample and Population
The research sites selected for this study are housed at four-year research institutions that
operate the same federally funded pre-college program. The services provided for each program
include: fundamental support and academic instruction in mathematics, laboratory sciences,
composition, literature, and foreign languages, tutoring, counseling, mentoring, career
exploration, college campus tours, cultural enrichment, and work-study programs. Each program
has a six-week summer residential program where the high school students live in university
housing on campus and have college student mentors serve as resident advisors. The programs
offer classes for either high school or college credit during the summer program as an incentive
for students to participate. The summer staff consists of college students trained to provide
mentoring to the students and to assist them with tutoring.
Each institution in this study hosts a federal grant-funded program in operation on their
campus. The host programs are from public and private universities and were not limited to any
particular area or region in the United States. The sample population for this study are: (1)
former pre-college participants that graduated from the program, (2) have attended or are
currently attending a four-year university, and (3) returned to work for their host program at least
one summer or academic year during their college career. Study participants are current college
students or recent college graduates within the past five years that are now in the workforce.
Study participants are current low-income first generation college students or were identified as
low-income first generation students while in college.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 35
To find participants that meet the criteria for the study, purposeful sampling methods are
used. Purposeful sampling is defined as the best method for identifying and capturing deep and
meaningful connections with participants. Patton (2002) describes power of purposeful
sampling emphasized on in-depth understanding and the ability to choose rich cases that best
exemplify the questions for the study. Purposeful sampling allows the researcher to select
interviewees whose shared qualities or experiences give a rich understanding of the questions for
the study while taking into consideration time and monetary constraints.
This study utilizes purposeful snowball sampling to generate participants (Gall et al.,
2007). Snowball sampling relies on recommendations or information from valid sources that can
connect the researcher to a snowball of potential participants. To locate the potential sample,
contact was made via e-mail and phone with program staff from different locations of the same
federally funded pre-college program to identify names of students that were graduates of the
program who met the criteria expressed for the study. Selection depended upon the following
criteria:
1. Participants must have completed the pre-college program through senior year of high
school and returned to work for the program for at least one summer during the summer
residential component.
2. The participants must be attending or graduated from a four-year institution of higher
education (this may or may not be at the institution where the student attended the pre-
college program).
3. Participants must be identified as past or present low-income and first generation college
students (based on program guidelines- “low-income” meaning an individual whose
family’s taxable income for the year preceding program entry to not have exceeded 150
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 36
percent of the poverty level amount and “first generation” defined as neither parent
completing a four year degree).
E-mails are sent to the names provided from the staff members to verify if they met the criteria
and are interested in being considered for participation. The next section provides an overview
for the data collection process.
Data Collection
Semi-Structured Interviews
Patton (2002) indicates that researchers conduct interviews to find out what is on
someone else’s mind and to document their stories. Participants for this study are properly
oriented with the interview process by having the confidentiality standards explained, and by
engaging in brief informal contact with the interviewer prior to the scheduled interview to
establish report and make the participant feel at ease. Gall et al. (2007) express that participants
should have an understanding of the contribution they are making to the study and that their
voice is meant to dominate the conversation with the interviewer. The semi-structured process
has been selected to engage in a formal interview using a guide of questions developed by the
interviewer, while allowing the conversation to stray when appropriate by identifying new ways
of understanding the topic.
Interviews for the study are conducted in person at a location with comfortable seating,
lighting, and room temperature. Rooms are reserved at the host institutions to conduct face-to-
face interviews if possible although alternate locations are established if a participant suggests a
location that is more convenient including phone interviews if physical distance made face to
face interview not practical due to time and financial limitations. Confidentiality is considered in
the rooms reserved on campus by minimizing traffic and interruptions and holding the interviews
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 37
in an enclosed room conducive for successful audio tape recording. At the start of the interview
I reintroduce myself and provide information regarding the purpose of the study as a part of my
dissertation research study on former pre-college participants that return to work for the program
they graduated from once in college. The participants are reminded of the time commitment for
the interview as approximately one and a half hours, and are informed that follow up contact
might be necessary to clarify any information once the data analysis process takes place to
ensure validity. Participants are given the opportunity to read the Institutional Review Board
(IRB) form and grant consent prior to proceeding with the interview process. Participants are
asked permission to audio record the interview using a digital tape recorder and informed that the
use of pseudonyms serve to protect the identity of each participant in the study.
Document/Artifact Analysis
After interviews are conducted, participants are asked to respond in a typed journal
format to four prompts relating to their pre-college and mentoring experiences. This information
is later used to triangulate the data and compare the stories consistency with the semi-formal
interview responses (Appendix C).
Data Analysis
The data analysis for this study follows Creswell’s (2007) six-step approach to analyzing
qualitative research. The first step involves organizing and preparing the data that is collected.
Organization is essential prior to reading and analyzing data as to not overlook key points.
Maintaining confidentiality of the participants involves organization strategies therefore,
password protected files are maintained for each person with access only accessible to me.

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 38

Figure 3.1: Creswell’s Steps for Qualitative Analysis

The next steps of the process involve transcribing the interviews, and reading through the
data several times so that the researcher can establish themes from the participants’ stories and
form initial codes. The final steps consist of interpreting how the themes represent the study, and
making meaning of the data. This study uses social capital theory and mentoring theory to
examine pre-college program contributions to students before and after college and to discover
how serving in the mentoring role impacts students during the college years after experiencing
working for the pre-college program they were once a part of.
Ethical Considerations
Researchers aim to ensure that high ethical standards are maintained in the data collection
process. Anonymity is given to protect the identity of participants and confidentiality is
maintained throughout the study in accordance with the University of Southern California’s
Institutional Review Board. “The IRB review process is designed to protect the rights and
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 39
welfare of human subjects by ensuring equitable subject selection, assuring adequate informed
consent, assessing and minimizing risks, and maintaining privacy and confidentiality”
(University of Southern California’s Institutional Review Board, 2006, p. 13). IRB approval was
obtained for this study to confirm that the methods utilized were appropriate.
In addition to receiving IRB approval, other strategies are used for this qualitative study
to ensure validity and reliability, which uses different techniques than quantitative methods.
Utilizing strategies such as providing thick and rich descriptions, triangulation, member checks,
and considering the biases of the researcher are important to conducting a reliable study that can
find solutions to problems relevant in today’s society (Merriam, 2001). The previously
mentioned strategies are used in this study to ensure the finished results from this research are
trustworthy.
Rich, thick descriptions
Information rich cases are chosen for this study to illuminate the research questions of
study (Patton 2002). After selecting rich cases, qualitative researchers provide rich thick
descriptions of the data collected to allow readers to determine if the situations or findings
described in the study can be applied or related to their experiences (Creswell, 1998; Merriam,
2001). Providing rich and thick descriptions gives readers a feeling of the experience by
providing details and a context that gives voice to the participants in the study.
Triangulation
Researchers triangulate by using various sources to test for consistency in the data.
Patton (2002) describes triangulation within a qualitative inquiry strategy to be obtained through,
“combining both interviewing and observations, mixing different types of purposeful sampling,
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 40
or examining how competing theoretical perspectives inform a particular analysis…” (p.248).
This study uses student interviews and document and artifact analysis for triangulation.
Member checks
Member checks for this study are conducted by contacting the participants after the
information from the interviews is transcribed to ask clarifying questions and make any
necessary changes to the data. Member checks provide the participants in the study an
opportunity to validate or correct what was taken from the interview data and provide feedback
to the researcher throughout the study (Creswell, 1998). Member checking may also stimulate
additional pertinent information from participants that did not arise in the original interview.
Researcher Bias
Patton (2002) describes the researcher as the principal instrument in conducting
qualitative research. The researchers background and perspective influences their interest in the
subject to study and how the data is interpreted. As the researcher for this study, I am aware that
my motivation and passion towards the subject of study comes from my prior participation in a
federal pre-college program throughout my secondary schooling. I attribute the majority of my
academic and professional success to the mentoring and guidance I received as the product of a
pre-college program. I do however acknowledge that not every participant shares similar
positive experiences and outcomes with pre-college programs and with returning to work as a
mentor/advisor during the college years. Making myself aware of this potential bias allowed me
to remain neutral and objective during my interactions and interviewing of participants.
As a college student I returned to work for my host pre-college program every summer
and served as a mentor and live-in counselor to high school program participants. During my
last year working as a college student mentor, the majority of the staff (19 out of the 20 summer
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 41
staff members) were former participants. Although I utilized the resources at my college campus
that were designed for low-income first generation underrepresented students, I found that the
mentoring, support, and skills I gained by returning to work for the pre-college program that I
was a part of was instrumental to my persistence throughout college.
As a professional I have worked for a federally funded pre-college program on two
separate campuses in order to give back to the program that I feel was beneficial to my life and
success. As a full time staff member I have seen overwhelming amounts of former participants
desire to work for their pre-college program by applying for the limited number of summer jobs
available. It is clear that as the researcher I believe in the benefits and necessity of pre-college
programs for low-income first generation students and believe these programs have a positive
influence on students long after they have completed the program.
The contents in this section provide details of the researchers effort to conduct a study
that is open to using several methods to ensure trustworthiness. This includes disclosure of the
researchers background to expose any potential biases. The stories of the participants, which are
underrepresented populations within higher education, deserve to be presented in a rich,
meaningful, and truthful manner, which is why ethical considerations are significant to this
study.
Summary
This chapter provided an overview of the methodologies used for the research design,
sample and population, data collection, and data analysis of this study. Ethical considerations
were highlighted and steps were explained to ensure ethical standards and trustworthiness was
upheld throughout this study. The following chapters will report the findings of the study and
provide an analysis of the data as well as implications for practice and research in the future.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 42
Chapter Four: The Findings
Chapter four presents the findings from a qualitative case study design created to
determine the role that mentoring plays on low income first generation students. The study
consists of former pre-college program participants who returned to work for a pre-college
program during their college career. This study focuses on three different aspects of the
participants’ experiences. The first section provides an overview of the participants in this study
and examines the student’s family and cultural background information as well as their history
and experiences with pre-college programs. The second section focuses on the participants’
college experiences including transitioning from high school to college, the campus climate and
environment of the school they attended or are attending. Section two also includes information
regarding university resources available and utilized by the participants, involvement in campus
activities, and their experiences with returning to work for a pre-college program as a college
student. The final section examines how the participants view mentoring and how serving as a
mentor for a pre-college program has impacted them during their college career. Included in this
chapter is a discussion and analysis of the findings significant to the research questions designed
for this study.
Participants
Introduction to study participants

The participants ranged in age from 19 – 24 years of age and were from various racial
and ethnic backgrounds (Latino, Caucasian, African-American, Mixed race). The gender of the
participants was equal with 5 male and 5 female participants. The participants were from various
pre-college programs from 3 different states with the majority of the participants coming from
Southern California. Eighty percent of the participants were active in their pre-college program
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 43
for three or more years during high school. Sixty percent of the participants returned to work for
their pre-college program as a college student for three or more years. Four of the students were
college graduates and six of the participants were currently enrolled in an undergraduate program
upon participating in the study. All of the students were former participants in a pre-college
program and were identified as low-income and first generation at the time they entered higher
education.
Participant Information

Name Gender Age Race/Ethnicity Current
Student or
Graduate
Years
Participated
in Pre-
college
program
Years
worked
for Pre-
College
Program
Sara Female 22 Latina/Guatamalan Current 3 3

Emilio Male 19 Latino/Mexican Current 3 1

Lourdes Female 19 Latina/Mexican Current 3 1

Adam Male 24 White Graduate 4 3

Tess Female 21 White/Hispanic Current 3 3

Mia Female 22 White Current 4 4

Darren Male 24 African American Graduate 2 3

Jose Male 23 Latino/Mexican Graduate 2 2

Gayle Female 23 Latina/Mexican Graduate 4 3

Brandon Male 21 Latino/Ecuadorian Current 3 2

Sara
Sara is a 22-year-old Latina female and is an only child. Her parents are from Guatemala and
she described her cultural roots to be Mayan. She is a junior in college and attends a large
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 44
private research university an hour away from the community in which she was raised. Her
father passed away when she was fifteen years old from cancer, which was difficult for her to
deal with while in high school and lead her to depend on the support networks from the pre-
college program she participated in. The pre-college program Sara participated in did not have a
summer residential component, however she did benefit from having mentors, tutoring, and
exposure to college campuses through various college campus tours. Sara states,
“You’re always told you need to become somebody in this life and the way the
program instilled this was by pushing us to go to a four-year university or
institution and receiving a bachelor’s degree and working hard to a master’s. I
believe this program really fundamentally showed me the skills and gave me the
opportunities and resources to actually see that as an achievable goal”.

Emilio

Emilio is a 20-year-old Latino male and the middle of three children that he identifies as his
immediate siblings. He stated that he has other brothers and sisters that do not live with him as
he comes from a divorced family. Culturally he described himself as Mexican and stated that he
and his siblings are the first generation born in the United States. Emilio stated, “We’re the type
of family that occasionally has carne asada on Sundays”. Emilio was an active participant of the
pre-college program he was a part of for three years which included him completing multiple
summer residential components.
Lourdes
Lourdes is a 19-year-old Mexican-American female that attends a large private research
university. She is the fourth child out of six and the first one to attend a four-year university.
She was born in the United States from immigrant parents, and stated that the majority of her
family members are not legal citizens. She identified two pre-college programs that she attended
during high school that influenced her and helped her to get to college. “All my life I’ve never
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 45
really known about college and even through my AVID program I would research colleges but I
didn’t know if I was able to go to college, had the grades, had the potential, or had the volunteer
work. The pre-college programs I was in helped me by exposing me and getting me involved to
know who my school was and why we perform low and what our statistics are”. She attributed
the pre-college programs she participated in for helping her through the college process and for
helping her distinguish what to do and not to do in the college application process.
Adam
Adam is a 24-year old white male and the oldest of three children. He identified himself as
the only white male in his family as his younger two brothers were mixed black and white. From
birth until the age of 10 the parental unit in his family consisted of his biological mother and a
stepfather who later divorced after he was 10. He and his younger siblings were removed from
their parents care and placed in foster care when he was 10 years old. His mother and stepfather
were high school dropouts therefore he identified himself to be a first generation high school and
college graduate. He attended college at the same institutions where he had been an active
participant of their pre-college program from 9
th
-12
th
grades. During college he served as a tutor
and mentor for the program through his college career and continues to remain in contact with
the program and the staff as a college graduate. Currently he is a staff member at the same
university where he studied and was a pre-college participant, and serves as an undergraduate
advisor for college students.
Tess
Tess identified herself as coming from a low-income single parent household. She stated that
she is the oldest of four siblings. She is from a small town where her high school graduation
class was 35 students. The town she is from thrives off of logging and the mill industry and the
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 46
whole “countryside of things.” She stated that her community is located near a reservation,
therefore Native American culture influenced her cultural upbringing. She stated that although
she is technically Hispanic, she was not raised with that cultural background knowledge because
her father was not present in her life. She started her pre-college program as a sophomore and
participated throughout her senior year as well as participating in the summer bridge between her
senior year and starting college. She is currently a junior and has been working for the program
her entire college career during the academic school year as well as for the summer residential
component.
Mia
Mia identified herself as coming from a one-parent household because her father passed away
when she was 13, leaving her mother to raise her and her brother. She talked about the impact of
moving around multiple times growing up and listed Washington and Florida as states that she
resided before settling in Idaho which is where she joined her pre-college program. “We were
pretty poor, like really really poor because my mom only really worked part time and then we
had social security benefits from when my dad died”. Mia stated that she always wanted to go to
college, so she found out from a friend about the Upward Bound program and got accepted to the
program at the end of her 9
th
grade year. She participated in three summer residential programs
including a summer bridge program that helped her transition from high school to college and
offered her to take two classes for credit prior to starting college. She is a graduating senior and
has been working for her pre-college program throughout the duration of her college career in
various capacities including being an office assistant and serving as a tutor, mentor, and resident
advisor during the summer program.

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 47
Darren
Darren is a 24-year-old African American male that was raised by a single mother. He
described his childhood years as chaotic and a time where he had to grow up very quickly to care
for himself due to his mothers addiction to drugs which had him living in unsafe conditions and
often times homeless. Darren stated, “My mom was supportive with my education and she
always pushed that I went to school. She never really helped me as far as going to parent
conferences or going to my award ceremonies and things like that but every morning even
though she did her thing late at night as well as early in the morning, she always made sure that I
was up and in school”. He and his brother were placed in foster care when he was in high
school. He was placed with a neighborhood friend who obtained legal guardianship of him until
he graduated high school. He participated in two pre-college programs that helped him in his
path to college. He graduated from an all male historically black college (HBC) and returned to
work for the pre-college program at the institution he participated in while in high school for
three summers when he returned to his community on school break. He currently works as a full
time academic advisor for a pre-college program.
Jose
Jose identified himself as Mexican and stated that he has a very Mexican culture but at the
same time his family mixes it up with American culture. He is the third child out of four with
two older sisters and a younger brother. He was admitted to a pre-college program his last two
years of high school and attended one summer residential session. When describing his pre-
college program experience Jose stated:
“I felt like the people that were there while I was in the program helped me a lot
and they were very motivating. They were a good example that we could make it
and we could actually go through this and go from a very poor community as it is
in South Central, to go into one of the best colleges in the nation”.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 48

Currently Jose has returned to the community he grew up in and works full time. He is a

recent graduate from a large prestigious public institution.

Gayle

Gayle identified herself as Mexican and described her family she was raised with to consist of
her mother, stepfather and two siblings. She stated that she has eight other siblings from her
biological father but that she was not raised in the same household as those siblings. She is a
graduate of a large prestigious public institution where she became very active in student
centered activities particularly those that supported first generation Latino students. She spoke
very highly of her pre-college program director for which she expressed taught her how to be
professional, serious about her studies, and ultimately successful. She returned to work for the
program for several summers during her college career and is still very committed to
volunteering for the program and returning to give back whenever there are opportunities.
Brandon
Brandon is a junior at a predominately white large public research institution. He identified
himself as first generation and stated that his parents came to the United States from Ecuador in
the 1980’s. He described his campus community as having racial tension as one of his friends
doors was tagged in the dorms with “mexi-melt” and other slurs that generalized Mexican
people. He also talked about the ignorance from the predominately white greek community that
have thrown theme parties such as “Cinco de Drinko” and “You don’t have to bring your green
card to party here” which has made him not feel completely connected to his campus
community. Brandon expressed wanting to find an environment at the university level that was
similar to what he had throughout his pre-college program, which he started the summer after his
9
th
grade year of high school. He stated that he found his comfort within the Latino based
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 49
fraternity that he joined. He contributed his involvement in a pre-college program to setting
goals for his future, “breaking out of his shell”, and provided him with leadership development
and networking skills that have been instrumental in his success in college thus far.
The next sections highlight the themes found from the interview questions that were
asked of the participants. The interview instrument was developed to ask three different sections
of questions to aid in answering the research questions for the study. The sections for the
interview questions are as follows: 1) background and pre-college program experiences, 2)
college experiences, and 3) experiences as a mentor. After giving a brief overview of the content
from each of the interview question sections, the research questions are restated in this section
along with highlighted questions that were asked and the results of the participants’ answers to
the research questions.
Section 1 Background Themes
Non-Traditional family structures
A theme common with the majority of the participants was a non-traditional family
structure. Two of the ten participants had been placed in foster care at some point in their
childhood. Adam, stated the following when asked about his family background,
“I’m going to go deep, I have to. I lived with my mom until I was ten. We were
taken from her; all three of us. My mom and stepdad got a divorce. We were put
in foster care. Being the oldest, I was nine and the only one without a learning
disability. It was difficult growing up, but everyone has a story.”

Two of the participants experienced the loss of a parent, one at age 13 and the other at age 15.
Six participants came from single parent households and only two participants identified as being
from a traditional two-parent household with both biological parents being married. Half of the
participants identified themselves as being the first generation living in the United States. The
majority of the participants labeled the precollege program staff as being another family some
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 50
even identified the staff from the pre-college program they attended to be more supportive than
their biological family. One participant stated,
“A lot of the people that I went through the program with and even some of the
students that we serve now come from like not very good family background
situations… I experienced this myself too… it was like having a second family
and in my experience it was having a better family. Um I know that sounds really
terrible, but they were really supportive in a way that my real family wasn’t”.

The significance of the pre-college programs role in serving as an extended family was evident
throughout the interviews and contributed to one of the reasons identified by several students for
being compelled to return to work for the program as college students.
Pre-College Program Experiences
In order to understand the participants experiences returning to work for a pre-college
program it was important to first gather information regarding their own pre-college program
experience and how that might have lead them to wanting to return to work for the program. All
of the participants in the study expressed positive recollections of their experiences with their
pre-college program and described how significant the pre-college program was in helping them
to gain entry into college.
One participant described his pre-college program as true preparation. Adam stated,
“It was not high school at all. You could play three sports, work a part-time job
in high school, study a half an hour a week literally and pass high school with a
3.5. The pre-college program taught us that you can’t succeed in college if you
are only studying a half hour a week. They installed time management skills,
study habits, test taking and test prep, and how to prepare to study. But it wasn’t
just those factors alone that could help a student be successful. It was the
program staff that truly helped us become familiar with academia as a whole. It
was a whole new atmosphere. I mean I literally lived five miles down the road
but just being a part of the university five miles away as a high school student felt
like I was a part of a whole different city.”

Darron expressed similar sentiments about the pre-college programs that influenced him
towards higher education. When asked to descibe his history with pre-college programs he
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 51
stated, “Actually, these pre-college programs helped shape me to become who I am. My mentors
came from these programs. They guided me away from gangs and away from the streets and
showed me that I could go to college and I could better myself and my future.”
Jose described his pre-college program experience as one that helped him get to the
correct path to go to college. He stated that his high school was not able to afford him the
guidance that his pre-college program was able to offer. Jose stated, “The program I was in at
the local university was a good example that we could make it and that we could actually go
from a very poor community as it is in South Central Los Angeles, to then be able to get
accepted to on the of the best colleges in the nation. Jose expressed that the program staff were
very motivating throughout his time in the program, which was a big factor in him wanting to
return to work for the program as a college student. He stated that his main reasons to return to
work for the program were to motivate the younger students as well as feel the supportive
environment from the professional staff.
Sara shared similar sentiments regarding her pre-college program experiences and how
those experiences influenced her decision to return to work for a similar program during her
college career. She stated,
“I believe my pre-college program really fundamentally showed me the skills I
needed to go to a four-year university and gave me the opportunities and
resources to actually see that it was an achievable goal by allowing us to visit
different college campuses. It was an amazing experience where I had a mentor
that showed me the way and actually cared about me through a tough transition in
my life especially with my father passing away”.

Sara expressed that it was very important to her to genuinely be there and care for younger
students that come from a background similar to hers. She felt that it was her responsibility to
make sure younger students understand the importance of the pre-college program and that
someone is investing grant funds in order to give them a chance at success.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 52
Section 2 – College Experiences
Transition from high school to college
The participants were mixed in their recollection of their transition from high school to
college. Some students described not having a difficult time adjusting from high school to
college and attributed this smooth transition based on the preparation from their pre-college
program and experiences living in residence halls through the summer residential component of
the program.
One of the participants in the study did not go straight from high school to a four-year
institution because she was granted admission to a prestigious private university but as a spring
admit. During the fall she attended a local community college to take courses and expressed her
frustration with the community college system and how difficult it was for her to get the classes
she needed to transfer. She only took one class in the fall at the community college and this
course did not count as credits that could transfer. Once transferring to her four-year institution
in the spring she did find that the transition was difficult with fitting in with other students and
feeling secure in her academic capabilities even though she attended the university where she
had been a former pre-college program participant. Laura stated,
“I was really pumped up but then having the fall semester at community college, I
was just worried. Am I as competitive as them? I don’t think I perform as they
do because most of them come from private schools or if not their parents would
have them in extra tutoring. I come from a public school and we’re really low on
test scores and we’re really low on everything. It kept going through my mind…
do I deserve to go there? Even now I’m still kind of scared of it. Sometimes I
stop from talking in my classes, but I just think of the kids I help. They are
probably feeling the same way”.

Laura was not the only participant to question her place in the university community and to
second guess if she belonged as the majority of the participants described questioning their
abilities or place within the university environment.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 53
Jose discussed his cultural background as Mexican-American playing a part in finding it
difficult to adjust to his campus environment. Growing up in a predominately Latino and
African American community to attending a large public university where the majority of the
students were Caucasian or Asian was an adjustment for him. Despite the cultural shock that he
initially experienced and it causing difficulties with fitting in, he stated that with time he came to
appreciate being unique in his environment. Jose also talked about how his pre-college program
participation helped him have the self-confidence to be successful in college. He described his
transition from high school to college below:
“It was very tough but at the same time I had a great mind set and attitude because
I was a part of this program. I had participated in the summer program so my
mindset was there. My attitude was there although my education background
wasn’t there. I had every other component to be successful”.

Jose expressed that even though he did not feel academically prepared for the rigor of his college
curriculum, the pre-program helped him to feel confident that he could overcome any barriers
and come out successful.
Gayle stated it being hard for her to be away from home since she went to school over 6
hours away and she wasn’t able to access her normal “go-to” people when she needed them. She
did not express serious issues with fitting in with other students although she did describe the
campus community to be a place that opened her eyes to different cultures and different customs
that she wasn’t aware of prior to attending college. She remembered that her pre-college
program director ingrained in her to become involved once in college which led her to join
school activities as well as to get a work-study job which helped her to feel connected to the
campus. Gayle did state that one area where she found it difficult transitioning from high school
to college was with students from her own identity once on campus. She found that among
Latinos there was a lot of division and segregation based on what Latino organizations you were
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 54
or were not a part of. She found this to be challenging, but continued to find her own niche
within the campus community during her freshman year to feel connected and well adjusted.
Social class barriers

During the interviews participants were asked if they had any difficulties transitioning
from high school to college particularly in their first year of school. Sixty percent of the students
in the study mentioned social class and their family’s low-income background as a noticeable
barrier and difference from themselves and the other students once at the university level. This
is interesting considering that the majority of the students interviewed where underrepresented
racial or ethnic minorities, yet only two students described their racial or ethnic background as an
issue with adapting to college life.
Several participants in the study mentioned that having to work during college gave them
a different set of responsibilities and a different experience than those students that did not have
to work. While some participants did acknowledge the positive gains from working on campus
such as the professional experience and a connection with university staff and other students, the
participants did mention that having to work set them apart from students that did not have to
work. Some participants resented that they couldn’t be as involved in college social activities,
clubs and Greek Life like they would have wanted to if finances were not an issue.
One participant stated that the social class barriers she experienced in her first year of
college lead her to founding a club on campus that was for other students that were from low-
income families. She stated that she needed to find other people on campus that were
experiencing the same issues and found comfort when meeting as a student organization with
other students from a similar social class background. She expressed that the group not only
served as a support network for each other but also focused on educating the campus community
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 55
on issues that lower income students face such as being excluded from participating in certain
clubs or greek life organizations based on the dues that were required.
Lourdes stated that she felt very different from her classmates based on being from a low-
income family. She recalled that classmates made fun of her community as being, “ghetto”, and
“the hood”, and these comments made her feel uncomfortable. She stated that she herself would
joke with her friends about being from “the hood” but it was different and made her feel inferior
when these comments were said jokingly by students from affluent backgrounds.
Darren is the only participant in this study that did not attend a predominately white
institution for college. As an African American male attending a Historically Black college
(HBCU) he described that social class was something he immediately experienced when starting
his college career.
“In my head I thought that attending a HBCU was going to mean that I wouldn’t
have a hard time adjusting because I would be going to school with people that
looked just like me…just like how I had it back home. I realized early on that so
many people who attended my college were from very rich families and that they
did not relate to me in the same way because of this difference.”

Darren spoke of several issues he had with his financial aid package once he moved across the
country to attend college and felt uncomfortable discussing his financial issues with the new
friends he made from wealthy families that could not relate to his problems.
Emilio described his campus community as being a new experience because it is a
climate where there is wealth all around him. Emilio attends a large private university within
minutes from the neighborhood where he grew up, although the demographics and the economic
situation for people within his home community he described to be much different from his
university community. Emilio stated, “It is different culturally I guess because most people that
I know are managing themselves in a way that their parents pay for everything. I am still going
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 56
back home to do my laundry.” Emilio stated that he did not feel threatened in his university
environment due to his own social class background but stated it is an adjustment to recognize
the privilege of his peers who he feels are experiencing college life differently then he his
because of their wealth.
College involvement and campus activities
Each of the participants in the study identified clubs, student groups, or academic
organizations that they participated in during college. One theme that several students shared
was a need to cut back on being involved in campus activities. They offered two main reasons
for this reduction, which were: 1) to provide more time for academic success due to a drop in
grades, and 2) to allow for more time to work due to financial constraints. 90 percent of the
students identified being involved in a club or organization that had to do with one or more of
their social identities. For example, two students described being a part of an organization that
supports low-income students and provides awareness to other students about low-income first
generation students. Several other study participants described being involved in cultural
organizations that helped them to feel connected to the university community and have a support
network due to a shared cultural background. One student shared,
“At first I joined some and then I stopped because I just couldn’t handle it. Most
of the ones that I’m still in now are the Latino community ones so they help a lot
because it is not just students from South Central that are Latinos and go through
this… you get exposed to other cultures…sometimes you go with the Asian
community, sometimes the African American community, sometimes even the
Caucasian. So many people struggle and I need to stop thinking that they’re
better than me because there are some kids that even though they got in here, they
have overcome some other obstacles so that kind of pushes me” (Laura)

The experience from the student above was common in terms of joining at least one cultural
organization and joining forces with other underrepresented students for support although one
participant in the study had a unique experience due to attending a college at a small
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 57
predominately black male liberal arts institution. He did not feel the need to join cultural groups,
but he did get very active and involved in student government as well as several other
organizations.
Returning to work for their pre-college program
The experiences of students varied with their pre-college work experiences, but there
were several themes identified according to the information that they provided on their work
experience for a pre-college program while in college. Half of the studied participants attended
the university where they were former pre-college program participants therefore their
experiences were different from those that went to a different school from their pre-college
program host institution. The students who attended their host pre-college institution for college
expressed an easier transition from high school to college and utilized their pre-college program
staff as advisors and resources during college as they had done in high school. As one student
shared,
“I felt ready and I was eager. I was ready to just forget walking; I’m going to
sprint because this is what was shown to me…my overall transition was a very
easy one to say the least; just being familiar with the campus and with individuals.
How to interact with faculty and taking courses throughout the summer with
Upward Bound really helped me.” (Adam)

These students expressed that when they had questions about other campus resources or needed
support, they frequently relied on the pre-college program office and their staff team. In
addition, students that attended the university where they were pre-college program participants
expressed the added support from other students who they went through the program with that
also ended up matriculating to the host university from their pre-college program. It should be
noted that it is not always an option for pre-college program participants to attend the institution
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 58
where they were exposed to college even if they wish to attend due to some pre-college programs
being hosted as highly selective institutions and admission policies being extremely competitive.
The themes identified for why the participants returned to work for the program included:
1) wanting to “give back”, 2) to build stronger relationships with the full time staff, and to
reconnect with students they knew from the program and 3) for the financial benefit. The
following testimonies are responses from the study participants when asked why they decided to
work for a pre-college program. For example, Jose shared that:
“I didn’t think about it as just a summer job, I thought about it as a way to give
back to a program that I felt like gave me a lot… I don’t know how much I helped
students but I knew that at least as a person who has already gone to college that I
could show them that they are capable of doing the same”.

Adam shared similar thoughts when he stated:

“I returned to work for the program because of the simple fact that if it were not
for those individuals who pushed me and motivated me, I wouldn’t be where I am
today”

Finally, Darron’s words concurred with Adam and Jose’s sentiments:

“Well, my perception of Los Angeles is that the African-American male is really
not a strong presence of a male, someone who is taking care of his responsibilities
and handling his own. I wanted to change that aspect within the outlook of low-
income people. I told myself where else to start then with the youth. I always
knew that I wanted to help out my community and help out the youth. I honestly
feel that returning to work for Upward Bound was the best way to do it.”

Some of the participants found out about the job opportunity through a friend, some
contacted the program staff on their own to seek an employment opportunity, and others were
contacted directly by the program staff and asked if they would like to return to work for the
program. Regardless of how the students found out about the job opportunity, it was clear
through the testimonies that each participant in the study had a meaningful purpose for why they
wanted to return to work for a pre-college program during college.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 59

Research Question 1: What is the impact of mentoring low-income first generation students
on former pre-college program participants who are returning to work at their host program?
Research Question 1 was designed to determine the impact mentoring has for low-
income first generation students when returning to work for their former pre-college program
while in college. Research from the literature review in Chapter 2 provided context for
mentoring for low-income first generation students. The interview questions (IQ) that were
asked that relate to research question 1 will be highlighted and followed by responses from the
participants.
IQ: What was your experience returning back to your college campus after you worked for the
pre-college program in the summer? Did your summer work experience have any influence on
your attitude or your performance in school once you returned to campus?
Motivation
The majority of participants described their mentoring experiences working for a pre-
college program as a college student to be one which motivated them to do better in their own
academics and in setting and reaching their goals. Sara reflected on her first summer working as
a mentor for the program and stated that when she saw the high school students struggling in
their math and science classes, she thought about how difficult some of her classes were during
her freshman year. She described that by mentoring and pushing the students to work harder, she
found herself more motivated to do better when classes resumed during her sophomore year.
Sara stated:
“It’s kind of one of those things that you have to motivate yourself to motivate
others. When I got back to school in the fall I was like, ‘I saw the kids improve
from a C to an A and if they can do it, I can do it’. It definitely gave me more
ambition and empowerment. By me motivating them, I felt like they motivated
me more to even do better when I came back the next year.”
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 60

Gayle gave a similar response when asked what her experience was like returning to her
college campus environment after spending her summer break working for her pre-college
program as a resident advisor/mentor. She described her experience returning to her campus
community as one where she did not forget about the students she had mentored and in fact
thought of them as motivation for her to be successful because she knew these students looked
up to her as a role model. Gayle stated:
“When I first returned to my campus after working for the summer program I was
constantly thinking about what else I can take to them from here and how I was
going to try to keep in touch with the students. As far as my academics it was like
I told them that they had to get good grades so it gave me extra incentive to make
sure that I didn’t fail because I knew the students were looking up to me and
seeing me like… wow… you go to Berkeley… like oh my god. So I had to sit
and realize that this isn’t just for me but I have to make sure that I actually
succeed. It was an extra lingering push in my head that said, ‘Alright, you can do
this’”.

Jose responded that he feels a lot of low-income first generation students have difficulty
transitioning to college, but after coming home and working for the summer program, he felt
better about returning to his college community to start his second year. He stated, “After
working with the kids, I went back to school with the attitude that I was capable of fitting in with
the other people on campus, and that I could do a great job.” He shared that his experience
working for the program reminded him of all the resources that he has had and continues to have
and this served as his motivation to continue to do well in school as a role model for the younger
students and out of respect for his mentors that helped him to get to college.
Finding a social network

Several students in the study discussed not being able to relate to other students at the
university including those people that they described to be from their own racial or ethnic
background. Lourdes described how Latino students at the prestigious private university that she
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 61
attends often make fun of the way she talks although she too identifies as being Latina. She
stated,
“One day I met with some Latino students and they were like, ‘oh I thought
you had a sweet voice but you have that really ghetto talk’. I don’t care… I’m
proud of where I come from and everything.”

She described students making fun of the community where she is from because of the negative
stereotypes that her neighborhood carries. She discussed her frustration with some of her Latino
associates from school letting other people know where she is from when they introduce her to
others as to differentiate themselves from her. Lourdes expressed that returning to be around her
pre-college program makes her feel connected to her community and describes it as a space
where she doesn’t have to be anything other than herself.
Brandon expressed how he wanted to find a support network identical to what he had
through his pre-college program experience but was disappointed that he did not find that at the
predominately white institution he attends. He stated that because he felt culturally different and
from a different social class that it was difficult for him to feel comfortable in his college
environment. He stated that he returned to work for his pre-college program because it was a
space in which he could relate to the students being that they were from his community and it
made him feel grounded because he was not able to connect often with the majority of his
college peers.
Brandon also talked about how joining a Latino fraternity helped him to find a close
group of friends that have helped to support him during his college education thus far. He
related the leadership experience that he gained from his pre-college program to becoming a
leader within his fraternity. Brandon stated,
“It was difficult for me to find a community at my university, but I learned to find
an environment that I am comfortable with which I found in my Latin based
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 62
fraternity. I definitely used the skills I developed from working for my high
school program as a senior leader and later as a summer RA (resident advisor) to
transition to the position I am now which is the president of my frat.”

Another participant, Mia, described the presence of her pre-college program on her
campus as an important factor in her finding a social network on campus. She had strong
relationships with the office staff, the high school students who she was formerly in the program
with, and the college students that decided to attend the same host institution as she did. She
expressed that this helped her to instantly feel connected and have a community on campus.
Research Question 2: How does returning to work for a pre-college program that a student
once participated in help with gaining social and cultural capital while at the college level?
Research Question 2 was designed to explore in what ways returning to work for a pre-
college program helps with gaining social and cultural capital while in college for former pre-
college program participants. The context for this research question comes from various theories
on social and cultural capital. Bourdieu (1983) argued that social capital itself was not enough
by taking advantage of resources to improve your own economic position, rather learning to trust
and reciprocate that which is learned is necessary. Participants in the study overwhelming
described the feeling of “giving back” and how that makes them feel in relation to their own
positive sense of self and acceptance of the community for which they came from. Lourdes
stated, “It makes me feel good to give back especially because I’ve always been proud of where I
come from”. She described how mentoring makes her feel good because she wants the kids to
do better, and the kids encourage her as well. The study participants described the need to work
harder when returning to campus after working for their pre-college program and that they drew
on their experiences of giving back in order to keep their motivation of moving forward.

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 63
Context for Research Question 2
Social capital is defined as the value of social relationships (Bourdieu & Passerson, 1990;
Coleman, 1988; Putnam, 1995, 2000). Bourdieu (1973, 1977) claimed that people intentionally
built relationships based on the benefits that those relationships would provide them in the
future. Participants shared the support network and “second family” that their pre-college
program provided while in high school and that they were trying to return to this supportive
family like atmosphere when returning to work for the program as college students. Bourdieu’s
claim that people intentionally build relationships based on what they can provide them aligns
with the responses from the participants.
There were four interview questions asked to participants that aimed at answering the
question of how social or cultural capital was gained from returning to work as a college student
for the pre-college program they formerly participated in as a high school student. Each question
will be highlighted along with testimony from the participants to exemplify how social and
cultural capital was gained through their experience.
IQ: What do you personally gain from your work serving as a mentor?

Positive self-identity gained from giving back

One theme consistent with several study participants was that a connection with the
community from which the participants came from was gained by working for the pre-college
program as a college student and serving as a mentor. Adam stated,
“I could have a crappy week, a horrible week and just a few hours of tutoring and
mentoring the high school students would do something for me. I not only felt
like I was doing something to help others, another individual, but I felt like I was
doing service to my community as well. It felt good to do something that could
help a younger student get to the place that I was at.”

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 64
Another participant described how different he felt going to school out of state even though he
attended one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s). He discussed how
important it was for him to remain connected to his home community and to give back where he
was from rather than spend his summers in his new community. After graduating from college,
he gained full time employment for the program as an Academic Advisor. When asked to
describe what he has gained from serving as a mentor he stated the following,
“I’ve always wanted to lead and help people and within my position as an academic
advisor for the program I was once apart of it has allowing me to do my childhood dream.
Every day I leave work or every time I see my students, I feel a positive self reflection
that I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do by giving back to my community and it
makes me feel good.”

Emilio attends the same university where he attended for his pre-college program
therefore he has the ability to work for the program as a student mentor and tutor during the
academic year. He described the positive energy that he gets from working with the high school
students for the Saturday classes the pre-college students take on campus each week. Emilio
states, “The kids are funny. They are pretty cleaver kids. I go every Saturday to tutor because I
enjoy it. The kids are kind of cool.” Emilio mentioned early in his interview some difficulty
relating to his college peers due to social class background differences, and described that it was
comforting for him to meet with high school students from his background every week to keep
him balanced.
Empowerment through giving back

The majority of the participants described the feeling of “giving back” with providing a
sense of joy and fulfillment. Brandon stated:
“There is a joy in giving back because you get caught up and busy with the
classes and other commitments that you develop in your collegiate career but
coming back reminded me that this is the program I came from and that this is the
program that helped me get to where I am now”
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 65

Adam expressed similar feelings about happiness he gained from giving back to students that
came from similar hardships. He stated, “It is amazing to see the students success rates and their
success stories. You can have a student you mentor that has come from a broken home with all
the most horrible scenarios you could possibly think of but then seeing them graduate from high
school and go to college, it is awesome.”
Sara described her gain from working for the program as one where she felt good giving
back to her community and to students that she could see herself in. She stated that she would
have worked for the program even without a paycheck because of the personal rewards she felt
she received from the kids. She appreciated having the ability to relate to kids that were from
similar cultural and economic backgrounds as her during her summer work with the program
considering that she stated in her classrooms and university community she often felt very
different. She commented on how she is always thankful for those that helped her get to where
she is today as a senior attending an elite university. By working for a pre-college program
during college similar to one that she was a participant in, Sarah expressed that she gained a
better idea of where she wanted to be in her own life and what she wanted to do career wise after
college.
Lourdes described a sense of empowerment that she gained from giving back to her
community through mentoring high school students in the pre-college program she was once a
participant of. She stated,
“ It makes me feel good especially because I’ve always been proud of where I
come from. I’ve had stupid questions come up while in college like, ‘have you
ever gotten shot’? People at my school ask if I see violence all the time. I mean
you see it once and a while but you don’t see it everyday. There are good people
from my community; we are not all bad. They just see us as bad so having people
say stuff like that to me in my first year of college; I really want them to not see
us as the bad people. I like mentoring because I want the kids to do better. I want
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 66
the community to be better also and I want them to come back. When I talk to
them I always encourage them to come back. Some kids tell me that they just
want to get out of this community and leave but I try to tell them how good it
feels to come back and make it better.”

Lourdes described her experiences as a college student coming from a low-income minority
community and how her peers stereotyping her community affected her. She included herself as
a member of her former community, the same community where the pre-college students
currently reside.

IQ: Did you feel supported or mentored from the program staff?

The participants knew what they had previously gained from their participation and they were in
search of accessing these resources and supportive environment again.
“First and foremost the thing that’s important for you to understand is that without
this program I don’t know where I’d be to be honest. I know it sounds pretty
cliché and like a generic answer, but I probably would not have gone to college or
graduated college. I probably would have gotten accepted somewhere, but
probably would not have had the drive without the individuals who pushed me
and showed me that there is hope and success.”(Adam)

The participants from the study all expressed their gratitude to the program staff and for the
benefits that they received from the program when reflecting on their pre-college program
participation experiences. Every participant interviewed for the study expressed positive
experiences from their pre-college program participation, and pointed to several factors for how
the program helped to lead to their success in entering college. Themes shared among
participants as significant program highlights included: SAT preparation, exposure to college
campuses through the summer residential component, mentoring from staff, college tours and
trips.
One participant described the mentoring relationship she had with the program director in
high school and throughout her college experiences while she was working for the program and
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 67
when she was in school. Gayle stated that she always felt that the director was sincerely
concerned about her academics and that she was never satisfied with what she claimed to be her
best. Gayle stated, “If this isn’t my best then what is she seeing in me that I can’t see in myself”.
She describe that this type of mentorship that she found from the program leader kept her
pushing for more and that this mentoring relationship continued in college and kept her in touch
to remain connected to the program. She felt that she gained something by continuing to be
mentored from her pre-college program director while in college and this connection lead her to
come back for multiple summer job opportunities while in college.
Emilio stated that he has not encountered having to use the program staff for help yet at
this point in his college career but he mentioned that it does feel good to know that they are there
as a resource if he ever needs to ask them for anything.
IQ: What skills did you develop from working for the program?

Participants in the study revealed a wide range of skills that they attributed to their
experience working for their pre-college program. Among the skills that were frequently
mentioned in the interviews were: mentoring, communication, networking and counseling skills.
All of the participants highlighted leadership skills as a significant part of what they gained from
their college work experience for their pre-college program.
Leadership
Brandon described the leadership skills that he developed while working for his
precollege program to have given him the tools to help develop a non-profit for Black and Latino
males within the community. His continued involvement with the program staff served as a
catalyst for him to develop his own leadership abilities to serve low-income minority youth. In
addition to becoming a student leader in college through his membership in a Latino fraternity
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 68
serving as president, Brandon used his leadership skills to get involved with community service
opportunities on campus. The opportunities Brandon mentioned included developing workshops
for younger students, organizing panels for high school students, and college campus tours in
order for the younger students to find mentors. Brandon expressed the purpose of all his
community service initiatives was in hopes that the youth will choose higher education.
Darren described the leadership skills he developed from working as a college student in
the program to be motivated by wanting to lead by example. He stated,
“I definitely wanted my students to see a leader and to be able to recognize
leadership so I definitely wanted to show them that. I encouraged my students to
come and speak to me about their problems no matter if they were academic or
personal. I know I didn’t always have the answers but the fact that my students
knew someone that they felt was a leader and that they could rely on and talk to
was huge.”

He described the pressure of knowing that young people are looking up to him and needing to be
able to see leadership in people that they can relate to as mentors.
Adam identified that working for the program helped prepare him to be a leader being in
the mentor position. He stated that he also developed better time management skills because as a
young college student he had to be somewhere on time because younger high school students
depended on him for tutoring services and mentorship. The last skill set that Adam identified
working for the pre-college program in college helped him with was further developing his
interpersonal skills. He stated that because of people skills he developed from working for the
program he now is confident in being able to have great conversations and interactions with
anyone from any background or age group which was something he did not feel comfortable
with prior to his work and mentoring experience.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 69
Communication skills
Darren expressed that working for the pre-college program as a college student helped
him to develop excellent communication and interpersonal skills. He stated,
“From working for the program I gained communication skills and learning how
to communicate to large crowds of people as well as small amounts of people. I
had to learn to deal with different attitudes, different cultures, and different
settings. One week you could have a student who may be a decent student, a
student who is courteous and then the next week they just turn the table. So
dealing with different characters and being able to adapt to characters and not
really judging people off their initial behaviors and attitudes is definitely a skill I
gained through my work with the program”.

Darren shared that the communication skills he learned from the situations he had to deal with
from working for the summer residential component of the program he was able to use back on
campus. He stated that he felt more confident talking to professors as well as giving
presentations in the classroom and through various student organizations that he was a part of.
Lourdes also talked about how her communication skills have improved tremendously
through her work as a college student worker for the program. She stated that the experience she
gained speaking to parents and to students made her alter the way she spoke because she needed
to not use curse words or speak in slang. She stated,
“The parents see me during meetings and orientations for the program and they
develop their own relationship with me to the point where they act as my parents
and tell me that I better be doing good in school. Talking with the parents of the
students has helped me to be more comfortable having other types of relationships
with adults at school, and has influenced me to work better because they look to
me as a role model to their kids. I usually do my ghetto-slang talk or whatever to
get people to like me, but working for the program has taught me to stop my
cursing and stop my slang as much”.

Lourdes expressed that in addition to the improvement to her communication skills, she gained
support from other adults from her community that were looking at her as a role model to their
children. She expressed that these positive relationships with the program participants parents
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 70
encouraged her to do better in her coursework, and also helped her feel more confident
interacting with other adults such as her professors.
IQ: What level of connection do you maintain with the students you mentored, and with the
program staff?

Study participants all described different levels of how they maintained contact with the
high school students that they have mentored/worked with. Many talked about how social media
such as facebook and twitter are ways that they continue to check on the students they worked
with and how the high school students maintain contact with them. One participant, Adam,
described the connection he continues to have with students and staff as a “huge cycle”. He
stated that his mentor was an academic advisor and now he is an academic advisor and tries to
give back to the students he advises in the same way his mentor did for him. Adam stated:
“I see the students that enter the university as my mentees. It is a huge cycle.
Seeing them go through the challenges of being a college student from an inner
city high school was the same challenges that I faced. It is cool to share my
experiences with them now that they are college students. They come to my
office hours, which is really cool and shows me that they trust me. As far as the
program staff for the pre college program that I was a part of and worked for in
college, I literally see them on a daily basis because I work full time now at the
university. They continue to be an asset to my life and to my family. “

Adam viewing his experience as a “huge cycle” is primarily due to attending the same college as
his pre-college program, which is a few miles from his home. He has been able to keep in
contact with his mentors who have seen him grow through his college years and to a young
professional working within this same institution. Adam has had the ability to work with youth
in the pre-college program while he was a college student and now advise them through his full
time job at the university as he has had some high school students he mentored through the
program choose to attend the same university for college as well.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 71
Darren similarly described that he remains closely connected to both the staff and the
students for the pre-college program that at the time of the interview he was employed as a full
time staff member. He stated,
“We’re all definitely connected. Staff wise I believe that your work place
environment… dealing with children…everyone should be up on one accord. We
definitely try to communicate with each other consistently in order to best serve
our students and their needs. My colleagues and I try to go out and just share our
experiences and keep the passion for mentoring our students. As far as the
students, the connection is basically allowing them to see me as their personal
advisor, someone who they can rely on no matter what. I always want that
connection to be there at any time whether they are feeling good or sad they know
that they could pick the phone up and call on me.”

Another study participant, Tess, stated that although her level of connection with the students
varied, she does keep in touch with the majority of the students that she mentored from the
program at least twice during the academic year. She stated that some students reach out to her
through facebook while others have her cell phone number and actually call her when they need
guidance. She stated that there are a few students that have maintained a connection where they
meet for coffee or dinner, particularly students that are from her hometown. As far as the
program staff, Tess stated that they continue to mentor and support her even though she is close
to graduating from college herself. She talked about how they were there for her as a high
school student and that the mentoring has continued as a college student worker for the program.
Conclusion
In Chapter 4 the data was synthesized from the testimonials provided by study
participants in order to answer the following research questions: 1) What is the impact of
mentoring low-income first generation students on former pre-college program participants who
are returning to work at their host program?, and 2) How does returning to work for a pre-college
program that a student once participated in help with gaining social and cultural capital while at
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 72
the college level? The ten participants in this study were a part of a pre-college program while in
high school and remained connected to the program by working as college student mentors
during the summer or academic year once at the university. All expressed that their work
experiences with the program as mentors assisted them with their success in college. The next
chapter will summarize the findings in more detail and provide implications of how this
information can be useful to professionals who work with pre-college program and retention
programs at the university level.

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 73
Chapter Five: Summary of the Findings

Pre-college programs have a history of assisting low-income first generation students
prepare and gain admission to college. It was unknown what role pre-college programs play
once a student has left the program and moved on to college. This study provides testimony
from several pre-college program participants from multiple states that all have been positively
affected from remaining connected with their program as college student workers. These work
experiences provided college students with a level of support and positive self-identity that many
of them were not experiencing within their college campus community.
The most significant finding from this study is that all of the participants described their
experiences of giving back to the younger high school students as one that motivated them to
improve while in college. Participants described that returning to work for their pre-college
program kept them grounded and connected to their community and provided them with skills or
capital needed to better adjust to and navigate the university system. This study found that the
participants interviewed had an increase in help-seeking behaviors after they returned to work for
their pre-college program. Participants discussed taking a greater effort to ask for help from their
professors and access academic resources on campus as they felt more comfortable and confident
to advocate for themselves after they became leaders and role models to the high school students.
This finding of an increase in help-seeking behaviors is important for university stakeholders that
are responsible for retention efforts and providing student support services for low-income first
generation students. In addition, the participants related their college work experience as a way
of thanking their pre-college program for the preparation and assistance they provided to gain
access to higher education. The participants described gaining from “giving” through: 1)
leadership and interpersonal skills developed, 2) the continued support and mentorship of the
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 74
pre-college program staff during the college experience, and 3) motivation to do better in college
from the realization that younger low income first generation students from their community
idolized them as roll models of a successful college student.
Research question 1 was designed to engage participants to discuss their experience as
college students returning to work for the pre-college program they were former participants of
in high school and how this experience influenced their performance in college if at all. There
were two main findings that came from the responses of the participants to research question
one. The first finding that was a common theme among the interviewed participants was that
they felt more motivated to succeed in college after their work experience as mentors. The
study’s participants felt that their role as a mentor to the younger students made them motivated
to succeed because they did not want to let the kids down. They discussed their connection to
the students during the academic year as being one where the students would e-mail, text, or use
forms of social media such as Facebook. The continued contact with the high school students
served as reminders that they were not in college just to better themselves and their families, but
that they had to perform well because the students looked up to them as role models.
The second finding for research question 1 is that the participants found a social network
and sense of belonging that was missing from their college experience by working for the
program. A theme consistent with the participants is that they felt very different from the
majority of students at their undergraduate institutions due to differences in their backgrounds
such as race or socio-economic class. The participants discussed that returning to work for their
pre-college program gave them a support network such as the one they had in high school. They
felt comfortable mentoring the younger students because they were from similar backgrounds
and they felt valuable because they were able to bring the new capital that they had gained from
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 75
their college experiences back to younger students from their community. The participants felt
purpose and value from sharing their capital with they high school students, but they also
describe gaining through the support and networking the other college student staff and full time
program staff provided.
Mentoring research as highlighted in Chapter 2 points to mentoring as a means of
promoting student success and performance through outcomes such as increased grade point
averages, self-confidence, and persistence in college (Astin, 1999; Bank, Slavings, & Biddle,
1990; Campbell & Campbell, 1997; Kahveci, Sotherland, & Gilmer, 2006; Sorrentino, 2007;
Wallace, Abel, & Ropers-Huiman, 2000). The findings from the study related to research
question 1 support the previous research on the benefits of mentoring. Jocobi (1991) found
mentoring to be personal and reciprocal and the participants in this study discussed the personal
relationships that they had with their program staff that served as their supervisors and mentors
as well as the reciprocal benefits to serving as mentors to the younger students.
The second research question aimed to discover if returning to work for a pre-college
program once in college helps in gaining social and cultural capital while in college. The
findings for research question 2 supports that the participants in this study gained capital through
their work experience. The participants highlighted communication and leadership skills gained
from the program staff and experiences they were given by working for the program, which
transferred to their student success on campus. Bourdieu (1983) states that social capital itself is
not enough and that individuals have to take advantage of their community resources to improve
their own economic position and at the same time they must be able to reciprocate what is
learned to others.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 76
Study participants state that their summer work experience made them feel more
comfortable in their own skin and gave them confidence to take more leadership roles within
their university community by joining clubs and student organizations with a focus on giving
back to their community. Participants expressed gaining several skills and knowledge from their
work experience that assisted in their academic success at the university. The majority of the
participants revealed that the communication and leadership skills they gained from working for
their pre-college program made them more confident to talk to their professors and ask for help
when they needed tutoring services. This is significant considering that most universities have
services and resources for students to aid in retention efforts, which are often underutilized.
Recommendations for Practice
Student Affairs and university offices responsible for the retention efforts of low-income
first generation students can learn from the structure of pre-college programs and the family like
atmosphere that students continue to long for once on a college campus. In the future it would
be beneficial for university programs, which serve low-income first generation students to work
together with the pre-college program professionals in order to help best support the needs of this
population of students. Adjusting to college life is a difficult task for any student but there are
additional needs for those students that are feeling disconnected due to their cultural or social
class background.
Pre-college program staff and the university retention specialists can work together to
make sure that these students are feeling supported once at the university community. University
retention programs can learn from the model of services and structure that the pre-college
program formerly provided students in order to increase the number of low-income first
generation students who utilize support services designed for them at the university level. Pre-
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 77
college and University retention programs working together will hopefully lead to more of these
students seeking help when they are academically struggling or feeling alienated which
ultimately will help retention efforts for low income first generation students and lower the
numbers of these students leaving the university.
This research is also important for pre-college programs to understand the importance
and significance that college job opportunities are for former participants. The participants in
this study were fortunate to able to secure employment during the summer or academic year for
the pre-college program they were once a part of, but sadly there are limited spaces for college
students to return to work for these grant funded programs. There are many more pre-college
program participant alumni that wish to return to work for the program as college students but
there is not enough funding to provide all of the students with work experience.
Grant funded pre-college programs need to look at how to include more college students
that were former participants as volunteers so that they will be able to reap the benefits that
remaining in contact with the program and giving back has proven to provide the participants in
this study. The pre-college programs used for this study need to track students through college
graduation although the funds to serve these students ends when they graduate from high school.
Annually every student that graduates has to be reported to the government that they are retained
in college, although there are no services or financial supports built in the program to help these
students once they graduate high school. This study shows the benefits that work and volunteer
experiences has on former participants and hopefully can lead to funds being allocated to provide
more opportunities to college students in the future.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 78
Recommendations for research
Funds are provided to pre-college programs to promote young people doing something
positive with their future through the means of education as opposed to the alternatives that often
plague lower income community schools such as becoming dropouts, and getting involved with
drugs or gangs. The money that is invested in high school students through pre-college programs
comes at no cost of the participant but there is an understanding and a hope that students who
benefit from these program will become more civically engaged once college educated and
continue to give back to the communities where they came from. Future research can be
conducted to evaluate if students who participated in pre-college programs do in fact become
more civically engaged when compared to students from similar backgrounds that did not
participate in a pre-college program.
Future studies should consider researching the high school students in pre-college
programs for low-income first generation students and how they benefit from the mentorship of
college student mentors that were former participants in the program. Examining the benefits to
the high school students if positive could reinforce the need to provide extra program funds to
establish a solid volunteer program for college student mentors as well as more student worker
job positions for the college students that want to return to work for the program.
Another area to explore for future research is the career field that is chosen of the former
pre-college program participants that return to work for the program in college. Two of the
graduated participants in the study work as academic advisors for programs that work with low
income first generation populations, and one of the current college students interviewed
discussed her desire to work for the program full-time once she graduates from college. Future
research should examine the majors and interests of the students prior to working for the
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 79
program and after to find out if there is a relationship between what they desire to do career wise
after college and if there is any influence from the college work experience from the program.
Serving as a mentor and returning to work for a pre-college program as a college student may be
influential in leading people to work in helping and philanthropic professions.
Limitations
One major limitation to this study is the small sample size of 10 participants. Future
research may want to look at doing a quantitative study with a larger number of participants
across the country. This study interviewed students from several different pre-college programs
at different universities within three different states and regions of the country, however one
limitation is that all of the participants were apart of the same federally funded pre-college
program. It is not know if all pre-college programs would yield the same testimonies as those
from the participants in this study. A quantitative study done with this specific pre-college
program could reach more students and program alumni using an electronic survey, which would
validate if the trends found in this study are consistent when using larger numbers of participants
and more programs across the states.
Conclusion
The participants in this study all expressed that their pre-college program helped them to
achieve their academic goals during high school and continued to support them during college
through the work experience that was provided to them. The ten participants each described
social and cultural capital that was gained by the mentoring and leadership that they continued to
be provided from their pre-college program staff as college student mentors. In addition, the
participants described the experience of giving back to the younger students as college student
mentors as giving them skills and capital that they were able to take back to their college
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 80
campuses in order to be successful at the university level. As college students giving back, they
not only felt that they were giving back to the pre-college program that they were a product of,
but it allowed them feel connected with their home community which they expressed was
important for them to have during their college experience.
The participants described skill sets that they learned from working for the program such
as communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills that they attributed to helping them with
integrating and becoming involved in their campus community as well as with their academic
success. In addition to the positive feelings they had about giving back to the younger students
and their community, the participants described that the high school students gave them
motivation to do better academically in college and as a reminder that dropping out of college
was not an option. They described a sense of duty to be successful at the university level that
they had not only to themselves and their families being low-income first generation students,
but because the younger students were looking to them as role models. The information
provided in this study will hopefully lead to more opportunities for pre-college program
participants to work for the program as college students considering the positive effects it has on
their personal growth and academic success when they are able to gain capital while giving
capital to future low-income first generation college students.
MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 81
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Appendix A – Interview questions for current college students

Background and pre-college program experiences

1) Discuss your family and cultural background.

2) Describe your experience with pre-college programs. What is important for me to understand
about your history with the program that you have returned to work for?

3) What would you say are the most successful components of the pre-college program you
participated in?

4) Tell me about your experience transitioning from high school to college.

College experiences

1) How would you describe your university environment or campus climate?

2) Have you experienced any difficulties with fitting in with other students?

3) What have been your greatest challenges in your college career thus far?

4) What support systems or resources have you accessed at your institution? Are there any
people or programs that you feel helped you in adapting to college during your first year?

5) What has been helpful to your social or academic development?

6) How did you come to be a student staff member of the pre-college program you work/worked
for as a college student?

7) What is your work history with the pre-college program you worked for?

8) Why did you decide to work for the program?

9) What did you share with your friends about your summer work experience?

10) What was your experience returning to your college campus after working for your pre-
college program in the summer? Did your summer work experience have any influence on your
attitude or performance in school once you returned to campus?

11) Describe your involvement in campus activities. Did they increase or decrease after working
the for the summer pre-college program

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 89
Experiences as a mentor

1) Talk about someone who you feel has served as a mentor and how has that person influenced
you?

2) What do you consider to be qualities of a mentor?

3) What have been your experiences with mentoring younger students?

4) What was your experience in mentoring students for the program that you once were a
participant of?

5) What mentoring qualities do you feel that you posses?

6) What do you personally gain from your work serving as a mentor?

7) Did you feel supported or mentored from the program staff?

8) What skills did you develop from working for the program?

9) What level of connection do you maintain with the students you mentored, and with the
program staff?

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 90
Appendix B- Modified interview questions for college graduates

Background and pre-college program experiences

1) Discuss your family and cultural background.

2) Describe your experience with pre-college programs. What is important for me to understand
about your history with the program that you returned to work for while in college?

3) What would you say are the most successful components of the pre-college program you
participated in?

4) Tell me about your experience transitioning from high school to college.

College experiences

1) How would you describe the university environment or campus you attended?

2) Did you experience any difficulties fitting in with other students?

3) What were your greatest challenges in your college career?

4) What support systems or resources did you access at your institution? Are there any people or
programs that you feel helped you in adapting to college during your first year?

5) What was helpful to your social or academic development?

6) How did you come to be a student staff member of the pre-college program you worked for as
a college student?

7) What was your work history with the pre-college program you worked for?

8) Why did you decide to work for the program?

9) What did you share with your friends about your summer work experience?

10) What was your experience returning to your college campus after working for your pre-
college program in the summer? Did your summer work experience have any influence on your
attitude or performance in school once you returned to campus?

11) Describe your involvement in campus activities. Did they increase or decrease after working
the for the summer pre-college program?

MENTORING & FORMER PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS 91
Experiences as a mentor

1) Talk about someone who you feel has served as a mentor and how has that person influenced
you?

2) What do you consider to be qualities of a mentor?

3) What have been your experiences with mentoring younger students?

4) What was your experience in mentoring students for the program that you once were a
participant of?

5) What mentoring qualities do you feel that you posses?

6) What do you personally gain from your work serving as a mentor?

7) Did you feel supported or mentored from the program staff?

8) What skills did you develop from working for the program?

9) What level of connection do you maintain with the students you mentored, and with the
program staff?

Abstract (if available)

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Asset Metadata

Creator Blonshine, Rebekah L. (author)

Core Title Impact of mentoring on former pre-college program participants: gaining while giving back

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Publication Date 05/02/2014

Defense Date 09/23/2013

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag first generation,low‐income,mentoring,OAI-PMH Harvest,pre‐college,TRIO programs,Upward bound

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Venegas, Kristan M. (committee chair), Baca, Reynaldo R. (committee member), Garcia, Victor (committee member)

Creator Email bekahleigh1817@yahoo.com,blonshin@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-410857

Unique identifier UC11296635

Identifier etd-BlonshineR-2491.pdf (filename),usctheses-c3-410857 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-BlonshineR-2491.pdf

Dmrecord 410857

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Blonshine, Rebekah L.

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA