High School Mentorship

Discover your future. Explore your career path with the help of a mentor.

Since 1991, the YWCA High School Mentorship program has provided over 1,000 young women with mentors to help them explore career and education options, learn leadership and life skills, gain a positive role model and be better prepared for their futures.

The program matches Grade 11 and 12 female students (mentees) with volunteer professional women (mentors) in a one-to-one mentoring relationship.

The program engages, educates and motivates girls to acquire the knowledge and confidence to pursue the career of their interest.

Building a positive new friendship strengthens a mentee’s self-esteem and can assist her in exploring and developing her potential. With the assistance of their mentor, a mentee can get one step closer to realizing their career goals.

Mother-and-Daughter Mentorship Volunteers

Malini Rajkumar and Monica Raj
Malini Rajkumar and her daughter Monica have always made it a priority to volunteer together. They first got involved with YWCA Vancouver after Malini attended a YWCA Volunteer Appreciation event and found herself inspired by the different volunteers that help our programs. That was five years ago.

Starting as a high school mentor for the High School Mentorship program, Malini now volunteers as the Windermere Secondary School sponsor. She is the school liaison between Janice Lee, who runs the YWCA Mentorship program, and the Grade 11 students who are enrolled in the program. Malini promotes the program, talks to students and parents and screens the students who want to participate. Malini can’t say enough about the benefits of mentorship for students and loves the community support the program receives.

Monica, who works as a software developer, has volunteered for the past four years as a mentor in the mentorship program and enjoys every minute of it. “Mentoring is a wonderful opportunity for me to pass along my knowledge and experience to the girls who are so passionate about what they are pursuing,” she says.