GE & CYC Kick-Off Mentoring program at Aiken

For Immediate Release - January 27, 2005

Shannan Schmitt
Communications Manager
(513) 475-4149

GE & CYC Kick-Off Mentoring program at Aiken
Longstanding school partner reenergizes mentoring program
to help Aiken students succeed

CINCINNATI: On Wednesday, February 1 at 9am GE, the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative (CYC) and Aiken kick-off a corporate mentoring program with 38 student/volunteer matches.

The program, which is one of many ways that GE supports Aiken, will bring students and mentors together once a month on-site at GE. Students are matched with a GE volunteer and ideally remain in the program until they graduate. Mentors provide encouragement, guidance and help preparing for college. Matches spend time together exploring mutual interests and sharing new cultural, social, academic and work related experiences. The theme for this school year is "Getting to Know Each Other."

GE Volunteers worked 15,000 hours at Aiken in the 2004-2005 school year. In addition, last year GE received two awards acknowledging the impact their work has had on the student's they serve- Cincinnati Public Schools'' Friends of Education Award, the highest award CPS gives; and the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative's Dreammakers Award.

"Of course the most important result is the difference GE volunteers make in the lives of Aiken students. Much remains to be done and that's why mentoring is so important. Our goal is to ensure more Aiken students not only achieve, but excel -- not only graduate, but go on to college, and maybe even work at GE some day," says Scott Schmid, Manager, IR/Thermal Design and Measurement Technologies and mentoring program coordinator for GE. 

A leader in youth development programs since 1987, the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative creates, facilitates and supports positive educational, social and economic programs to benefit the region's youth - with primary focus on Cincinnati Public School - age and young-adult populations. Focusing on two primary areas - Mentoring and College Access, CYC brings together people, institutions, and other community resources to help youth graduate from high school, enter post-secondary education, and/or obtain employment. Additional information on the CYC can be found at www.cycyouth.org.

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