‘Humanistic opportunity’: University students and incarcerated youth benefit from tutoring program

And while the junior at the Belmont university signed up to be a mentor, Romano said she was taught valuable lessons in the process as well.

“Just the fact that everyone is able to change their life around if they wanted to,” said Romano, of what she learned in her semester tutoring at the San Mateo juvenile detention center. “They just need a good support system. Some people don’t have that so they feel like there is nothing they can do to better their life. But some kids realize there is something better out there for them.”

Romano, 21, was one of the Notre Dame de Namur University students who have contributed as mentor over the last four years to the Project Change program, in which other students earn college credit for taking classes while locked up.

Romano visited juvenile hall at least once a week over the last semester, helping Project Change students with reading and writing lessons, as well as crafting a personal statement which could be used in college application materials.

For her part, Romano said the experience was tremendously rewarding.

“The best part was being able to see them progress throughout the semester and actually like what they were doing after a while,” said Romano.

Pearl Chaozon Bauer, an English professor at Notre Dame de Namur University who helped found the joint initiative with Project Change director Katie Bliss, said the collaboration is paying even greater dividends that initially imagined.

“It’s just for me, as a teacher, it’s so inspiring,” said Chaozon Bauer. “I can’t believe the changes it is actually making.”

Project Change offers students an opportunity to accumulate college credits when institutionalized while also granting occasional exposure to the College of San Mateo campus, where they are slated to transfer after their term ends.

Those who follow the path enjoy access to academic, transportation and financial support, as well as mentoring and a community of students who also graduated from Hillcrest Juvenile Hall to the hilltop community college.

The program is supported by the county juvenile court, District Attorney’s Office, Private Defender Program, Community College District, Office of Education and Notre Dame de Namur, from which the tutoring program grew.

More recently, Project Change served as an inspiration for Senate Bill 716, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October, which requires all state probation departments to offer higher education opportunities to incarcerated teens.

Bliss said she hoped the collaboration with Notre Dame de Namur University would help further expand the new state law to give incarcerated youth greater exposure to their peers in higher education.

“This is another opportunity for students to see themselves not just where they are presently as a college student, but the opportunity to transfer and be a university student,” said Bliss. “That’s a key highlight.”

She added being behind the walls at juvenile hall can be illuminating for those from the university too.

“This is a really humanistic opportunity,” she said, especially since a majority of those who work as mentors are on the path to working in criminal justice.

And though their paths may have led to different outcomes, Chaozon Bauer said the two student groups often find they may have more in common than they originally thought. She said bonds have been established between tutors and students that share histories of families with gang affiliation, drug abuse or incarceration.

For Romano, she said she will take the tutoring experience with her as she starts an internship next semester with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Upon completion, she plans to return to Notre Dame de Namur University, where she expects to graduate before pursuing a career in the FBI or DEA.

“I liked the experience and I liked helping the kids,” said Romano.

Bliss said the appreciation was mutual among those enrolled in Project Change.

“The experience for students to be able to be in the classroom with their peers, because this is their first year as college students, is really incredible,” she said.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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