MentorPower Students Held Their 12th Annual Fair

MentorPower, Inc. held their 12th Annual Fair on April 27, 2006 at Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey.

The above picture shows Nicholas Wilson, Trenton Central High School 2005, speaking at the 2005 MentorPower Fair.  Nick has just completed his freshman year at North Carolina A&T University.

Area high school students, together with their mentors, exhibited research projects that focus on environmental issues within their communities.  Working on the projects one-on-one with professionals recruited as mentors from a variety of business and government entities, including NJDEP, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Educational Testing Services, the participating students develop critical thinking skills while learning how to apply scientific theory to real-life situations. In addition to exhibiting their projects at the fair, the high school students also take their projects to elementary classrooms, where they teach the younger students the lessons learned.

Beginning at 6 p.m., the evening affair was open to the public and visitors had an opportunity to interact with the students and mentors and to see the projects first hand.  A light buffet was provided. 

This year, MentorPower, Inc. was chosen by the Young Business Leaders Council of the Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce as a recipient of the Council's assistance. The Young Business Leaders Council, a selection of up and coming leaders in the business community, is helping MentorPower, Inc. with fundraising and the organizational development of the Fair.

MentorPower Inc. is a multi-cultural one-to-one mentor program that helps high school students form and reach their educational and career goals.  Volunteer mentors, when matched with a high school student, commit to a mutually chosen project in which an environmental scientific or technology issue is researched and tested.  The results of the research and fieldwork are woven into a classroom lesson taught by the high school students.  The one-to-one core program concludes with a MentorPower Fair.  MentorPower Inc. is 501(c)(3) organization located in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.