A reception Saturday celebrated the participants in the Connecting4Success program, which pairs mentors with first generation students—the first in their families to attend university.

Throughout their first year, students meet one-on-one with their advice gurus and attend monthly meetings that focus on common first-year academic, social and personal challenges. In 2013/14, more than 172 students volunteered as gurus to almost 200 protégés, says program coordinator Christina Alcena.

Guest speaker Yvonne Pilon, a UWindsor grad (BComm 2007) and vice-president of WEtech Alliance, said she was really impressed with the program and its participants.

“From time to time, you meet students who are both willing to learn and eager to be engaged, but what’s really rare is when you meet a whole room of them,” she said. “Since the event I have already received a number of follow-up emails and tweets from students wanting to connect and learn more about career and volunteer opportunities in Windsor-Essex.”

The reception also saw the conferring of several awards: mentor Colleen Broaderip received the “Making a Difference” award, based on a nomination from both her protégés; four protégés were recognized for making the most of their experiences—Nicole Bourdkane, Aché Knight, Ayodeji Owojori and Regina Yuen.

For more information on Connecting4Success, visit the program website or e-mail Alcena at christina@uwindsor.ca.

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