St Francois Girls’ College launches Mentorship Programme

PAST and present students of St Francois Girls’ College got together on Thursday evening to pioneer a unique, new programme.

The school’s Mentorship Programme, which links current students with some of the school’s successful alumni, is the first of its kind to be introduced in Trinidad and Tobago’s secondary school system. The programme aims to help the students develop their social, emotional and leadership skills, as well as increase their career opportunities by working in partnership with leaders in the country’s corporate community.

It was developed by Joanne Spence-Baptiste, a final year Social Work student at the University of the West Indies. During her placement at St Francois, Spence-Baptiste saw the need to link the students with professionals. With support of two teachers who were also former students of St Francois,  Rhona Flores and Marva Lawrence, the programme was developed and launched. Keynote speaker at the launch, Motivational Consultant Phillip Rochford, described a mentor as “a source of critical information”, “a cradle of wisdom” and a “dedicated coach” and offered valuable advice to the participants on how they could get maximum benefits from the programme. The programme is expected to be launched in other secondary schools in the coming months.