There is so much to discover and explore at White Mountain and we want our students to get the most out of their time here. To that end, we are excited to announce a new initiative. Starting this year, seven White Mountain administrators are serving as Program Mentors and their task is to help students maximize their time on campus. Allison Letourneau, Associate Head of School for Enrollment Management, believes that the Program Mentors help to create a “two-layer advising system”. Our advising program is well-established and advisors do a great job of supporting students in their day to day lives; this allows Program Mentors to focus on the “big picture”. Students will meet with their Program Mentor twice per year and these meetings will focus on things like course planning, ideas for their LASR or mini LASR projects, leadership opportunities, and plans for summers and vacations. The Program Mentors will help students to identify and collect some of their best work to save in a portfolio which will be beneficial as they prepare for life after White Mountain.
All White Mountain students in grades 9-11 will have biannual meetings with their Program Mentor, and then all seniors will continue to work with Lawrence Alexander, Director of College Counseling. Lawrence believes that the Program Mentors will play an important role in the college application process. He recently shared, “I believe that the work our students do with their Program Mentors has the potential to yield many tangible benefits: frequent conversations about their interests and coursework will help students improve their interviewing skills, collecting a portfolio of their past work will give them a larger bank of writing samples to choose from, and overall they will be more dynamic applicants.” We are excited about this opportunity to further support students in their learning and growth.
The following seven administrators are serving as Program Mentors this year:
Tim Breen P’17, Head of School (B.A. Bucknell University, M.S., Ph.D. University of Michigan)
Nate Snow, Associate Head of School (A.B. Bowdoin College, M.Ed. University of New Hampshire)
Allison Letourneau, Associate Head of School for Enrollment Management (B.A., M.A. University of New Hampshire)
Julie Yates P’17, Director of Development and Alumnae/i (B.A. Smith College, M.S. University of Michigan)
Shane MacElhiney, Academic Dean (B.A. Yale University, M.A. Columbia University)
Rebecca Dickinson, Director of the Learning Center (B.A. Wellesley College, M.A.T. The University of Chicago)
Peter Wickman, Director of Admission and Financial Aid (B.A. Gettysburg College, M.A. Villanova University)
