Rep. Rush Holt kicks off Rider's partnership with MentorPower

Promoting the need for greater diversity in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.-12) visited Rider University on October 1 to kick off an innovative partnership between Rider and MentorPower, Inc., a science inquiry-based mentoring program for local high school students from Trenton Central and Lawrence High Schools. The intent of this program is to encourage students to pursue science-based careers supported by the close personal support of adult mentors who will guide them through their research and field work.

This past summer for five weeks, six MentorPower students from Trenton Central High School were immersed in hands-on research at Rider examining various phenomena such as the creation of a solar powered dehumidifier to offset the world’s water crisis, finding solutions to the American obesity crisis, stopping onchocerciasis (river blindness), biomass conversion into ethanol, and the effect of the environment on tetrahymena. The students will continue their research under the guidance of their mentors and enter their conclusions into the Mercer County Science Competition in March.

“The ability to ask good questions and use the scientific method to answer them is a critical skill for all of our students to master. I thank Rider University, Mentor Power and its sponsors for keeping programs like this going,” said Holt. “We need thousands more like this all over the country, not just for future economic competitiveness as a nation, but also so that students can achieve what we think they deserve to achieve. I congratulate Rider and MentorPower for this meaningful partnership.”

For Dr. Jonathan Yavelow, assistant dean for science and professor of biology at Rider, Holt’s message embraced the key principles that Rider and MentorPower seek to accomplish: to expand inquiry-based scientific training opportunities for underrepresented students in the Greater Trenton area.

“Science literacy has been a long-standing commitment of Rush Holt, and the partnership between MentorPower and Rider University will hopefully make a difference and kindle a spark in the minds of these students,” Yavelow said. “It is also very exciting that Rider University has received a McNair grant from the Department of Education. This grant program is designed to mentor minority students interested in the STEM disciplines to eventually pursue their Ph.D.s, become professors and train the next generation of scientists.”

Scores of success stories already abound, maintains Maureen Quinn, director of MentorPower. “Trenton Central High graduate Crystal Romeo, an alumna of MentorPower and graduate of Spelman College returned here to work for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and has recently moved to Georgia to continue her environmental work,” said Quinn. “She will pursue a master’s degree in public administration in order to head an organization that can re-create her experience for thousands more young people.

“Crystal attributes her interest in environmental science directly to her involvement in MentorPower,” continued Quinn. “Eight-five percent of MentorPower’s underrepresented students have gone to or are in college and more than 50 percent of them are pursuing degrees in the sciences.”

Queen Jones, director of Rider’s Student Support Services Program (SSS), was present at the kick off to announce that the University has been awarded $220,000 for the first year of its newly funded Ronald McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program. The McNair Program will provide talented underrepresented students who are majoring in science, computer information technology and mathematics with the necessary financial support and mentoring experiences to ultimately pursue a doctoral degree in STEM related fields.

According to Jones, Rider is one of four New Jersey higher education institutions to receive such funding and is one of two to receive a new award this year.

As a result of this grant, Rider will cover the tuition cost for McNair juniors and seniors who are New Jersey residents and maintain a 3.0 GPA.Those who graduate from Rider with a 3.0 or higher are eligible to pursue doctoral studies at Drexel University-College of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University or the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) on full scholarships once admitted.

“Access and opportunity are key elements in providing avenues for success for all American citizens,” said Jones. “John F. Kennedy stated, ‘we all have different talents and we all should be given the opportunity to reach or pursue that talent.’”

The next step, according to Dr. Jon Hayashi, adjunct assistant professor of biology at Rider and a long-time MentorPower mentor, is to build upon the scope of the partnership’s summer session.

“The goal is to create an academic and motivational pipeline from high school and college to the actual workforce for students,” said Hayashi.

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