Mentoring
The Summit is fundamentally a mentoring program that collaborates with parents in order to help their sons to live deep and fulfilling lives by becoming excellent professionals, friends, citizens, and future fathers. These ideals are pursued through a practical, hands-on curriculum that helps students, for example, to brainstorm and curate a list of target universities, evaluate their use of social media, practice interviewing with an experienced professional, or consider the value of sincerity.
The program is inspired by the virtues and ideals of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Summit warmly welcomes people of all faiths, however, and it does not seek to impart specific doctrinal formation. Nevertheless, many students recognize the spiritual dimensions of professionalism, friendship, citizenship, and fatherhood, and they are encouraged to set goals consistent with their religious convictions.
Why Mentoring?
In The Summit, each student is assigned a mentor who guides him in putting into practice the principles taught in the classes. Specifically, he works with the student through a mentoring curriculum and helps the student to translate the ideas presented in The Summit sessions into practical goals.
In almost every area of our lives, we look to more experienced individuals to guide us. While this is most obvious in sports, we also seek out professional mentors, intellectual teachers, and spiritual directors to help us reach our full potential in every area of our lives. At The Summit, we believe the same is true for character development. Although students receive a multitude of tips, ideas, and advice during sessions of The Summit, most of it will never be put into practice unless it is tailored to the student’s particular situation.
This individual tailoring takes place during mentoring as the mentor and student discuss a series of worksheets designed to complement the material covered during the sessions. These worksheets are customized depending on the student’s year in school. They cover a range of topics such as developing a schedule, selecting a college, growing in fortitude, and using social media to effectively build - rather than stifle - relationships.
Who are the Mentors?
Mentors are volunteers carefully selected by the program director. Most are students at local universities or recent graduates who have relevant experience in the program. All mentors adhere to the Guidelines: Activities Involving Minors found on the The Summit website.