Verizon recently made the College Mentors for Kids’ mission a little easier through a grant of $15,000.  The grant supported implementation of a new Web-based tool, called Thinkfinity.org, as College Mentors looks to increase the use of technology in its hands-on activities between children and mentors.  The latest in online educational resources from Verizon, Thinkfinity is an innovative Web site that provides teachers and parents with free ideas to enhance student creativity and critical-thinking skills through partnerships with organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic.  Thinkfinity also has a section on their Website specifically intended for after-school programs like College Mentors to improve experiential learning.

Thinkfinity, still relatively new to College Mentors, has already received a positive reception. “It has been a wonderfully valuable asset so far,” said Amanda Koushyar, College Mentors’ Vice President of Programs.  “We have been able to further diversify our activities as well as broaden the use of technology in our programs, which will become increasingly more important as we continue to expand and grow.”

The first steps in incorporating Thinkfinity into the existing College Mentors program structure over the summer involved updating the chapter leader and mentor training materials to include its use in activity planning, implementation, and also as a supplemental resource.  Program staff then revised existing activities and created new activities that included Thinkfinity’s learning objects.  In one activity that used resources from Nationalgeograhic.com, first-graders discover different cultures by learning how to say “hello” in different languages.

"Online instruction is a key to 21st Century learning," said Neil Krevda, Verizon Vice President of External Affairs. "Verizon welcomes this partnership with College Mentors for Kids to share the engaging resources of Thinkfinity.org with students throughout the state."  This collaboration with Verizon is a key step in ensuring that the at-risk children College Mentors serves receive the best possible and most relevant programming available.