the jma mentorship program
JMA Mentorship
A brighter future starts with understanding higher level academic material, acing your standardized tests, being on top of the college application process, and getting the scholarships you need to afford that education.
Unfortunately, there’s little-to-no guidance here for millions of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, further perpetuating cycles of poverty.
But, we’re here to change that; one mentee at a time.
What We Offer
Academic & STEM Mentorship
JMA mentors are provided with our complete Medical Biotechnology lessons to teach their mentees.
Full Medical Biotechnology Curriculum
Academic Help in School
General Emotional/Psychological Support
Standardized Test Prep
Both Mentors and Mentees will be privded with a free SAT/ACT test prep books and multiple SAT/ACT practice tests on a google drive link.
SAT Prep
ACT Prep
Standardized Testing
Colleges and Scholarships
Having already gone through the whole process, mentors will guide mentees through the entire application and common app process!
Help navigating the common application
Holistic College Applications & Essay Help
Help Applying for Educational Scholarships
It’s All At Your Fingertips
Learn as much as you want from the comfort of your own home!
Our mentees are from resource scarce areas, with little access to tutors, counsellors, or prep resources to get ahead and succeed. Our mentorship program brings all of that to their finger tips through an empathetic mentor who’s been in their shoes!
We Do The Busy Work, So You Don’t Have To
We’ll handle the messy logistics for you
We compile all the resources, study material, teaching material, and scholarship lists to provide to mentors, so mentors can focus on what matters: being there for their mentees.
A Bond That Crosses Continents
Learn about the beautiful culture and people, and communities from countries across the world!
This is an amazing opportunity to interact with, and develop a long term bond with someone across the world! We try to match mentors with mentees that have similar and/or complementary interests to make it easier to build a relationship.
Our Mentorship Program is creating brighter futures and meaningful bonds across the world:
Mentors and Mentees
Countries Reached
FAQ For Mentors:
Prospective Mentors: Why you should join
What is the time commitment like?
Completely up to you!
The time commitment is really flexible and determined by the mentor, but a general recommendation would be to meet 1 hour a week.
We recommend the mentorship to last throughout summer at least, but the time frame is totally flexible at the discretion of the mentors! You’d work with your student to arrange meeting times over their preferred method of communication.
What happens after I sign up?
If you are matched with a student, you will be sent all their form response information including contact info, preferred method of contact, areas they wanted mentorship in, additional interests, and their short introduction.
We will first provide you with the mentee responses to confirm if you’re still willing to go ahead and serve as their mentor. Then, we’ll notify your mentee, and send an email connecting you both together. You’ll then be asked to reach out to them over their prefferred mode of communication (most commonly Whatsapp for students in African countries).
How does the mentor matching process work?
We use the subject areas for what the mentor wanted to teach and what the mentee wanted to learn [indicated in the google form] as the primary determinant for the matching process (with additional hobbies/areas of interest as tie-breakers).
We try to match each mentee with the best mentor for their needs, to facilitate the best possible mentor-mentee relationship!
Can I get more info on who the mentees are?
Our mentees have ages that range from 13-22; they are a diverse group of students (ranging mostly from African countries like Ghana and Zimbabwe) that either want to learn more about cutting edge STEM research and/or get guidance as they try to qualify for scholarships and apply to American universities to receive an education in the US.
As college students, each and every single one of you has something unique to offer and teach your mentee — be it from personal interest, prior research, or classes you have taken at college!
Who can be a mentor?
Anyone in university/college can be a mentor! We would like all mentors to have this qualification because many mentees want guidance regarding college applications and admissions.
If you’re interested in becoming a mentor, use the link at the top of the page to signup.
How will I meet with my JMA Mentee?
There are a host of virtual options that you and your mentee can choose to meet on: Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Zoom, or Google Hangouts, just to name a few. Ultimately, it depends on if your mentee has access to these platforms , which will be indicated on their response forms that we provide to you.
Mentors/mentees can meet via video call, phone call, or even text depending on accessibility to these services. Some of our mentees have poor access to wifi, so we do our best to accommodate for their needs.
FAQ For Mentees:
Prospective Mentee Students
What does it mean to be a mentee?
As a mentee, you will be receiving personalized one-on-one support from your mentor to guide you in your interests and future endeavors.
This can be anything you want from, help on the SAT to learning more about the latest biotechnology-based medical techniques such as gene therapy, prosthetic limbs, and stem cells.
Is this free?
Yes, of course!
As a nonprofit, JMA is dedicated to providing free education and mentorship to students across the world.
We care much more about your educational enrichment and academic success than the money in your wallet 🙂
How will I meet with my JMA Mentor?
There are a host of virtual options that you and your mentor can choose to meet on: Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Zoom, or Google Hangouts, just to name a few. We’ll ask you to indicate your preferred way of communication in the form, and your mentor will accommodate for that.
Mentors/mentees can meet via video call, phone call, or even text depending on accessibility to these services. We understand that some mentees have poor access to wifi, so our mentors will accommodate for your needs.
Who can be a mentee?
Anyone can be a mentee! We place a strong emphasis on providing this opportunities for students from developing countries, disadvantaged backgrounds, low-income households, abusive backgrounds, and/or underrepresented minorities.
If you’re interested in the program, signup using the link at the top of the page.
What is the time commitment?
This is entirely up to you! Some questions to ask yourself to determine what your time commitment may look like include:
Is it easier for you to learn by yourself and then come to the session with questions, or would you prefer to walk through lessons with your mentor?
What does your workload look like outside of the Mentorship Program? If you’re very busy, you may choose to only meet once a week, but if you have more time in your schedule, you can meet more frequently.
What would you like guide with? If you only want guidance in one subject area, your time commitment will be smaller compared to someone who wants guidance in multiple areas.
The time commitment that you choose at first is not set in stone. If at any point, you feel that the time you can commit has changed, you can talk with your mentor and adjust accordingly.
What We Give Our Mentors and Mentees
Medical Biotechnology Curriculum:
For mentees interested in learning more about STEM fields, we provide their mentors with a full biotechnology curriculum (adapted from Brown University Professor Achilli’s unanimously loved class: Biotechnology in Medicine!)
Lessons Include:
-Stem Cell Engineering
-Cardiovascular Engineering and Heart Disease
-Aging and Pharmacogenetics
– Gene Therapy and Virotherapy
-Regenerative Medicine
-And more!