Dear Breakthrough Alumni,

My two other colleagues, Heaven and Shyanne, and I launched a mentorship program this semester called “Young Womxn Emerge” and we just wanted to share it with you.

Our program aims to give BIPOC (Black and Indigenous People Of Color) womxn the opportunity to learn more about college readiness and to assist them in the college application process through weekly sessions via Zoom. We hope to work with mentees with a junior and senior class standing (seniors in the Fall and juniors in the Spring), helping them with college essays, teaching them about the college lifestyle, and assisting with financial aid, all while fostering a sister to sister mentor relationship, as we know how hard it can be as first-generation and low income minorities ourselves.

We will also be working with mentors to support our program. Any college student in the US that identifies as a BIPOC womxn is eligible to be a mentor. The mentors will host the sessions that cover topics related to the college application process and will support the mentees throughout this journey.

Here is our Mission Statement:

"Young Women Emerge seeks to provide college mentorship to young women who attend public, and/or low resource secondary schools. As young women of color who have been through the college process, we aim to provide meaningful mentorship to high school students, who are underrepresented in spaces of higher education, and share information that will help prepare them for their collegiate journey. Our goal is to connect with all of our mentees on a sisterly level while also providing guidance that is needed during the college application process, throughout college and beyond."

Please check out our Instagram: @yweprogram 

We hope just want to help as many disadvantaged students as possible with applying to college especially during this time! Thanks for learning more about our program — if you have any interest in participating, contact me directly!

Kayla Burns

B.A Psychology | Barnard College, Columbia University ’23

Co-Founder | Young Women Empowered

kb3075@barnard.edu