September 5, 2019: This past week, Harpswell students and alumnae attended the final session of their mentoring initiative, "Mentors for Mentees’ Future," at Mesang High School in Prey Veng province. The Harpswell student-led initiative aims to inspire local high school students to pursue higher education and to connect them with a Harpswell mentor to whom they can turn to in their academic or professional careers. Over the course of the past 12 weeks, mentors conducted weekly mentoring sessions with the high school students to discuss setting goals, personal development, college, and scholarships and other opportunities. 

During the final mentoring session, the mentors spoke about their journeys from high school to university and reflected on the process of choosing their careers and living independently. Mentees also had the opportunity to share their plans for the future and what they had learned from their time with their mentors.The project was developed by Harspwell students as part of Harpswell’s Civic Engagement Program. The program, supported by Harpswell’s fundraising campaign with the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance and GoFundMe, challenges Harpswell students to design civic engagement projects in surrounding communities. Five Harpswell students and ten Harpswell alumnae volunteered as mentors for this project.