Become a Mentor

Thank you for your interest in becoming an iCouldBe mentor. We are grateful for the time and dedication of our mentors who guide, coach, and support our mentees to find success in school and plan for bright futures.

As an iCouldBe mentor, you:

• Mentor online for one-hour weekly for a school year (approximately September to June).
• Communicate with your mentee in our secure online community from any location and at a time convenient for you.
• Receive support and structured engaging online activities and conversation prompts.

See below for a short FAQ for what to expect and steps to get started.

We look forward to your participation!

Click here to sign-up for a wait-list to become a mentor in the coming school year.

Frequently Asked Questions About E-Mentoring

1) How do I register?

Most of our mentors are recruited in July and August in preparation for the fall semester that starts in September. To be considered, add your name to this waitlist and we will email you the simple steps to get started once registration is open.

Registration is online and takes about 15 minutes and includes a background check. When the application is completed properly, we usually receive background check results within a week, but the process can take up to a month. We will email you once results are in. Volunteers who pass the background check can log in and complete their mentor profile and online training to be matched with a mentee.

2) How are mentees chosen for iCouldBe?

iCouldBe mentees are strong, amazing and ready to succeed. Since iCouldBe serves schools that are significantly under-resourced, we have a whole-class implementation model so every student can have access to a mentor. Our program is embedded in classrooms led by trained teachers and implemented one class per week during the school year.

3) What’s the communication like with my mentee?

To comply with regulations for connecting adults with minors online, all communication is in written form (no in-person, phone or video contact) and takes place within iCouldBe’s safe and secure online community. To ensure flexibility for busy professionals, the program is asynchronous which means that you and your mentee do not have to be online at the same time. Mentors engage in written communication with their mentees through the iCouldBe activities. When your mentee makes a new activity post, a daily email notification will be sent to you. iCouldBe mentors and mentees spend their time collaborating to help mentees develop critical networking skills, to develop self-efficacy, academic and career skills, and to grow their webs of support to achieve their full potential.

4) How will I know I’m making a difference?

Sometimes you will hear it directly from the mentees – like this:

“ Thank you for working with me this term, you are a really good mentor. You've brought bigger ideas for college that is going to help me now and in the future.”

“ Thank you for guiding me throughout this semester. It has really helped me and taught me a lot about myself. As I came into this school year I was really scared I wasn’t going to do as well because of last year, but having someone to talk about school made it so much better. Once I started on iCouldBe I knew I was going to do better in school because of all the good advice you would give me. Every time I had a question you were always there to respond back quickly and that is very much appreciated. Once again I would like to thank you for going out of your way to help me.”

“ Thank you. You’ve been a major help. I feel a lot more confident about the present and the future thanks to the advice you’ve given me. I don’t feel as anxious asking teachers for help and I actually feel ready for what’s to come in my senior year! I’ve been dreading the future for a while, but you helped ease that dread. So once again, thank you so much for all your help!”

“ Thank you for being an amazing mentor. I admire you because you put your time and effort to be mentoring someone and leaving them knowledge, I hope to mentor and guide someone just like you did. All of your hard work is appreciated and pays off in the end.”

Most of the time it will be in the subtle shifts. A few sentences when the month before they wrote one or two words. A passing reference to something you said that they applied in real life. An excitement to share with you their favorite music. The things that seem so small but are meaningful in showing how your presence week in and week throughout the program year is influencing their lives.

Even when it seems like the mentees that you are helping to support and guide towards success may not see the benefits right now, you are continuing to plant valuable seeds for their futures, and they may only understand that value late in life!

And whether you hear the thanks from them or not, you will always hear it from us. You make a real difference by giving our mentees a safe space to develop and practice critical networking skills and you help them develop short and long-term relationships to expand opportunities for their future success.

Thank you!

Become a Corporate Partner

iCouldBe partners with the private sector in an engaging model of corporate social responsibility. In addition to financial support, corporate employees are encouraged to mentor iCouldBe students online and often become some of the strongest advocates for the power of e-mentoring.

Companies that give back to their communities demonstrate vision and initiative that positively impacts their business. Employee volunteer programs encourage leadership development, improve professional skills and build company morale and loyalty.

By partnering with iCouldBe, you offer your employees the chance to draw on their professional expertise as they guide students through the transition from high school to college or their chosen career path. Employees from our corporate partners make strong mentors, and curriculum units focusing on career planning, financial literacy and college preparation take on special relevance as they guide their mentees towards their educational and career goals. Because e-mentoring occurs online, participation is flexible and suits the challenging schedules of corporate professionals.

To learn more about becoming a corporate partner, email our Executive Director, Kate Schrauth at kate@icouldbe.org

Bring iCouldBe to Your School

Since 2000, iCouldBe has connected over 24,100 students across the country with caring and professional mentors, helping to guide youth towards the futures they want.

Like you, our mission is to give our students the tools to plan for a successful future. Having a professional adult available to listen, guide and support them can make all the difference in helping young people find success in school and plan for bright futures.

iCouldBe works closely with each of our school partners to determine how e-mentoring can help students meet your college and career readiness goals.

To learn more please contact our Chief Program Officer, Michelle Derosier (michelle@icouldbe.org or +1-917-608-7093)