During fall semester 2016, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UNC Asheville in concert with the University will embark on a groundbreaking new initiative -- a mentoring program specifically targeted to first-generation college students. The mentors will be OLLI members interested in helping undergraduates build their confidence and a career skill set. The mentees will be undergraduates selected by the University from candidates who represent the first generation from their families to attend college. This program promises to be both an academic advantage for UNC Asheville students and a rewarding volunteer outlet for those OLLI members looking to share life and career experiences.

 

Dick Murray and Jim Lenburg, well-respected longtime OLLI volunteer leaders, talked recently about the journey that brought this initiative to fruition.  To Dick, the idea of putting OLLI's intellectual capital to work for the benefit of the University seemed like an obvious mentoring opportunity, but he credits former OLLI member Neal Barrille with the inspiration to focus on first generation students.  For nearly five years, Dick and Jim, with enthusiastic support from OLLI Executive Director Catherine Frank, promoted the mentoring idea through the halls of the University. While many embraced the concept, identifying the best way to launch such an undertaking proved to be a major hurdle.

Jim remembers meetings and luncheons and mixers with lots of supporters. "We even taught mentors how to register on LinkedIn as an aid to publicizing their credentials." But the first real breakthrough did not come until UNC Asheville Athletics Director Janet Cone seized on the OLLI mentoring initiative as a competitive advantage for student athletes. This led to a pilot program in the second half of 2014-15 with about a dozen students. Now, in the program's first full year, there are approximately 30 students being mentored by volunteers from both OLLI and the Walnut Cove community.

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