ma·tric·u·late

məˈtrikyəˌlāt/

verb

1. be enrolled at a college or university.

How did you get to school? Think about this. What journey did you take to find the school you attend, to apply, to get the grades to get accepted. How did you get to campus on move in day? Who came with you?

During the first day of freshman orientation my Hall Advisor told us that a hallmate of mine would be late because he was still on the Amtrak train, by himself, with all of this luggage, coming from Chicago. I can't imagine moving in by myself. I can't imagine taking an Amtrak from Chicago with all of my baggage. This image of a boy on a train coming to college never left me, and now he is stepping up trying to help others get to their dream schools.

Matriculate is focused on finding college students to mentor low income, high achieving students to get them to the colleges that they don’t know they can get into. Jesse was lucky to have his college counselor to guide him. He told me, "I would not be here talking to you if it wasn’t for amazing college counselors and friends to push me to get here. I have so many friends who couldn’t get to college and dropped out of community college. I think this is the most amazing things I can do as a college student."

Jesse is a Head Advising Fellow. His main job is to bring Matriculate to Franklin and Marshall, and to recruit Advising Fellows, who are the ones actually working with the student. Advising Fellows need training and someone to help them set up meetings.That's also where Jesse comes in. He, along with the Advising Fellows, will also eventually have students to mentor.

Advising Fellows will get up to four students to mentor. This is a two year commitment, so the students are currently juniors in high school, but Advising Fellows will mentor them through senior year. Students are not necessarily from the Lancaster area, so the mentoring will be done virtually via Skype.

"I think this is the most amazing things I can do as a college student." -Jesse Murphy regarding working with Matriculate

How can YOU get involved?

Fill out this application! The application takes less than 10 minutes to complete. He is looking for about 35 people to apply, and around 10 to hire. As of now, working as an Advising Fellow is volunteer work, but Matriculate and Jesse are working to get the Advising Fellows paid.

The commitment up until you get students is about 2-3 hours a week. One hour is a meeting; any other time is spent researching how to work with students, or how to use certain applications such as salesforce, then once the Advising Fellow is assigned students, the commitment becomes 5-6 hours a week.

According to Matriculate, over 50% of high-achieving, lower-income students don’t apply to a single college or university that is an academic match. Students who attended a leading college or university earn about 25% more than those who attended less selective colleges. For many of these students, a mentor who can help them find the right path is the key to give them a better future for themselves and their families.

Apply today to take a step towards a change.