One of NBEF’s key objectives is to provide New Brunswick High School (NBHS) and New Brunswick Health Sciences Technology High School (NBHSTHS) juniors, seniors and alumni with support services and resources that helps equip them to be successful in college and prepares them for careers. This initiative is implemented through NBEF’s College & Young Professional Network (C&YPN) component.
Some of NBEF’s C&YPN framework entails a “Near-Peer Leadership Model” to build and nurture relationships with hundreds of youth we serve who are pursuing higher education. Through this model, we engage and train college upperclassmen and young professionals (who are products of NBHS, NBHSTHS and NBEF) to serve as coaches to deliver our program resources and services. Thus, these coaches come from the same socioeconomic/marginalized circumstances as the students they counsel/advise; and has “been there” and “done that” in navigating the rigors of the college admission/financial aid processes, selecting courses and professors, joining campus clubs and fraternal organizations, and acquiring internships or entering the workforce. From this vantage point, they are relatable and can connect with their counselees, offering encouragement, inspiration, confidence, and guidance with the capacity and potential to deliver results.
In that regard, NBEF is proud to launch a special initiative that’s being implementing this year to stay even more closely connected with our scholarship recipients and participants in our College & Young Professional Network. Although this concept is nothing new to NBEF, the organization has never executed a program service with an infrastructure that has currently been developed. The upgrade was necessary in light of the rapid growth of high school seniors and college students who are becoming a part of NBEF’s Network each year; and, thus, we are very excited to pilot our Account Management Program, also referred to as the “The NBEF AMP.”
The NBEF Account Management Program Team will provide personalized wellness calls guidance, information, and updates on NBEF programs, services, and special events. It’s the program’s aim to orient freshmen to college life, connect them with campus support systems, and provide positive reinforcement through 1:1 interactions. Additionally, this special project will offer career development coaching, resources, and services to college upperclassmen members of our Network.
