Shepherds had an excellent 2018, celebrating our 20th Anniversary and changing the lives of 62 students. Our 2018 Annual Report highlights both Fiscal Year 2018 and our 20th Anniversary celebrations. Download the report to read more about our students, mentors and sponsors and to see highlights of the year.
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| Join Shepherds Staff and Mentors to welcome Spring on March 28. Enjoy drinks and heavy appetizers. Please bring a friend to introduce them to the rewards of mentoring a Shepherds student or just bring yourself so we can thank you! Thursday, March 28 from 7pm to 9pm Fairfield County Hunt Club 174 Long Lots Road, Westport Please RSVP to Amy Chickles, Shepherds Director of Programming at: achickles@shepherdsmentors.org |
Shepherds, a non-profit based in Bridgeport, has supported the education and success of inner-city teens from the New Haven and Bridgeport areas for 20 years. During National Mentoring Month, Shepherds students will celebrate the role that mentors play in their lives with a Mentor Appreciation Night at Notre Dame West Haven High School. Mentors make a monthly commitment of time and energy to an individual student and receive professional training and extensive staff support throughout their four-year commitment.
Results over 20 years have demonstrated that Shepherds students have a much higher likelihood of graduating from high school, pursuing higher education, breaking the cycle of poverty and becoming productive members of society. Since 1998, 265 students who might otherwise have dropped out of high school have graduated and gone on to institutions of higher learning, military or civil service roles.
Shepherds is committed to helping these students achieve their potential through a high quality, college preparatory curriculum, go on to higher education, and eventually become valuable and productive members of society. Fifteen adult mentors are needed for students beginning high school in September of 2019.
Financial sponsors are always needed to help to defray tuition costs and provide additional supports and services throughout the school year including test prep and remedial supports. If you are open to making a valuable impact on a young person’s life and reaping the personal rewards that come with it, please contact Dan McAuliffe, Shepherds’ Executive Director, by April 15th. You can reach Dan by email dmcauliffe@shepherdsmentors.org or call him at 203-367-4273.
Thank you to the BIC Corporation and to Chief Financial Officer, Jim DiPietro, who coordinated a career day at their headquarters in Shelton. Fifty-seven students, staff and mentors from both Kolbe Cathedral High School and Notre Dame West Haven attended the event. The day included 12 speakers from all different branches of BIC – marketing, communications, packaging, finance and IT – who spoke with the kids throughout the day. In addition, students were treated to breakfast and lunch and some fun fake tattoos.
Shepherds and Notre Dame West Haven High School held their annual Back to School evening on Tuesday, September 18th. Students, new and old, joined their mentors, families and staff from both organizations to celebrate the beginning of a new school year.
Six young men make up our Shepherds Class of 2022. The group is particularly close having spent the previous several years together at St. Martin de Porres School in New Haven. The students were able to meet their mentors and listen to words of encouragement from school president Robert Curis and Shepherds Executive Director Dan McAuliffe. Thank you to all who made this evening so special.
Pictured Left to Right are freshmen: Cristian Solorzano, Alan Lopez, Carlos Freire, Jose Baselca, David Maita and Christopher Velez.
One hundred and forty seven young men made up the Notre Dame West Haven Class of 2018. Family, friends, teachers and mentors cheered them on at a celebration in the school gym on Sunday, May 27th. Ernie Santiago was one of seven Shepherds students graduating this year. He was interviewed by the New Haven Register and spoke about the significance of his time at NDWH. ‘“If I can take away one thing from this, it is definitely the brotherhood. Ever since the first day when I walked in I felt welcome, not only by staff and teachers, but by my classmates. We didn’t know each other but we are acting like we were friends from 10 years ago,” said Ernie Santiago, who will study nursing at Quinnipiac University.” We are so proud of each of these students and wish them all the best as they move on to college.’
Rear, Left to Right: Chris Elias ★ DJ Pantry ★ Reuben Clarke ★ Isaiah Kane ★ Front, Left to Right: Ernie Santiago ★ Ryan Haas ★ Alex Rodriguez
Shepherds students spent a day visiting area colleges on April 9. The visits are meant to show students a variety of schools to further their education from community colleges to small private colleges and larger university settings.
January is National Mentoring Month – a month dedicated to promoting youth mentorship in the United States. This year, Bridgeport-based Shepherds marks its 20th year of providing tuition support and adult mentors to underserved, at-risk high school students in the greater Bridgeport and New Haven areas.
Connecticut is a state known for excellent schools however high school graduation rates in many of our inner city schools is as low as 55%. Students often lack the academic preparation necessary to succeed in high school and beyond. Without support and attention, many students struggle to graduate.
Since 1998, non-profit Shepherds has provided tuition support and mentors to more than 219 young men & women entering college-preparatory high schools in the greater Bridgeport and New Haven areas. Shepherds’ graduation rate is 100%; most students move on to 2 and 4-year college programs. Today, 37 young men and 24 young women are working towards their high school diplomas at Kolbe Cathedral High School in Bridgeport and Notre Dame High School in West Haven.
Mentors make a monthly commitment of time and energy to an individual student and receive professional training and extensive staff support throughout their four-years of mentoring. Sponsors make a financial commitment and receive the reward of knowing they are making a sound investment in the life of an inner-city young person.
Shepherds needs mentors for twenty students entering high school in fall, 2018. If you want to change a young person’s life please contact Dan McAuliffe, Shepherds’ Executive Director, by April 15th at dmcauliffe@shepherdsmentors.org . For more information on the great work Shepherds does, visit www.shepherdsmentors.org.
Notre Dame HS in West Haven welcomed 5 incoming Shepherds freshmen to the Class of 2021and will hold a Back to School Night on Wednesday, September 13 from 6-8:00PM. We wish all of our students and mentors as well as their families and the staff at NDWH a happy and healthy school year!
This year Kolbe Cathedral High School welcomed 11 incoming Shepherds freshmen to the Class of 2021. Kick Off Night for mentors, students and families is Thursday, September 28 from 6-8:00PM. Wishing all a successful, healthy and happy new school year!
