Pathways Regent Park is helping students explore post-secondary paths through a partnership with the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). Launched in January 2023, P2E x TMU Community Tutoring pairs Pathways students with undergraduate student mentors in one-on-one and group tutoring sessions at Pathways Regent Park’s after-school Homework Club.
Every week from January to June, students in Grades 9 to 12 met with their tutors to review STEM subject concepts, a highly sought-after area of support. In addition to the tutoring, students could participate in post-secondary planning, including visiting TMU’s Student Learning Centre for a “day in the life” student experience program. The tutors helped to organize and lead interactive activities, campus tours, and panel discussions that allowed the students to ask questions and get real-time feedback and resources about getting a higher education.
For Alex Vallee, who has worked at the program location for over 17 years, these specialized supports are critical to prepare youth’s self-advocacy and independent learning skills that will enable their success long after high school. “By attending tutoring, students come into the classroom having a better sense of the material and feeling more confident. They are then more resilient around challenges because they have people to support them and fail in front of in a safe way,” Alex explains. “Ultimately, we want to help them figure out how and where to ask for help as they journey through high school with us and move into post-secondary.”
That’s why one of the goals of the partnership is to foster consistent, long-term connections. By engaging Pathways students of all high school grades, students can get an early start on envisioning their plans after high school and getting familiar with a post-secondary institution.
To help make this happen, the tutors needed to be easily relatable for Pathways youth. The Pathways Regent Park team was heavily involved in the recruitment process at TMU to ensure that the tutors were passionate about engaging youth and also from similar backgrounds who typically face barriers to accessing post-secondary education. “It was so important that the tutors were also from equity-deserving populations so that the youth could connect with them. Although part of the program is getting academic support, it’s also about developing a mentorship relationship with somebody who parallels your journey so that you can see yourself in university, too,” Alex shares. It was a joy for Alex and the team to experience the camaraderie the tutors and students built, and how the engagement encouraged attitudinal shifts toward learning as students’ grades improved. This month, ten Regent Park alumni who were engaged in this collaboration will pursue their post-secondary education at TMU.
With P2E x TMU Community Tutoring starting again this fall, Alex looks forward to seeing the continual flourishing of students’ confidence with the help of their mentors. The team at Pathways Regent Park is already hard at work planning programming for the back-to-school season, with a new pilot with TMU’s Admissions Department in development to enhance students’ progression into their post-secondary journeys.