Providing Mentorship and Support for High School Students 

The Promise Student Advocates initiative seeks to ensure every student is connected to a caring adult who helps them navigate school, postsecondary planning, and life. These mentors (or Advocates) build connections with and support high school students who display risk factors such as receiving disciplinary actions, failing two or more semesters of a core course, or having an attendance rate of 85% or less. Advocates regularly check in with these students and with other adults in the student’s life including teachers, coaches, and parents. They connect students and their families with resources and supports to address barriers like unmet transportation, housing, and health needs. Students and their advocates work together to create individualized success plans. This initiative is part of the Partnership’s collective goal to ensure 100% of high school students in Promise Communities graduate from high school on a college or career path.  

LaMarqué Ward Sr. is the President and CEO of Dream Builders University, one of the partner organizations supporting the effort to hire and train Advocates. “Having that kind of support helps our kids become more resilient and not give up in high school and not drop all the potential and hope that they have in themselves,” he said. “So now they keep dreaming, keep building, and then they become change agents for the world. And what we know about this kind of work is kids whose lives are changed in this kind of work also grow up and want to change lives.” 

Promise Partners Join National Cohort at Harvard University 

As part of the process to develop and implement the Promise Student Advocates initiative, Promise Partners became involved in a Success Planning Community of Practice hosted by EdRedesign Lab’s Institute for Success Planning at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education during the summer of 2024. The Partnership was selected to return for a second year as part of the 2025-26 cohort, which was announced in a June press release by EdRedesign Lab. 

According to EdRedesign Lab, cohort members are provided with a structured curriculum “to equip cross-sector leaders with practical skills, knowledge, and resources for designing, implementing, scaling, and evaluating effective and impactful Success Planning initiatives.” They also meet regularly with expert coaches who provide additional guidance and support. Promise Partners are participating in the Community of Practice alongside 13 other cross-sector partnerships located across the country, providing the opportunity to connect with and learn from communities doing similar work to support student navigation and success planning. 

Taryn Roch, a Senior Partnership Director on the Promise Partnership Utah backbone team, is participating in the cohort on behalf of the Partnership. “Being part of the Community of Practice is great,” she said. “If we do have a problem or issue we’ve been dealing with, there are people who have already encountered it who can help us through that.” Roch, along with Ward, two other Promise Partnership Utah backbone staff members, and one representative from Promise South Salt Lake, traveled to Cambridge, MA in July to participate in a workshop training with the other cohort members. 

Navigating the Future of Student Success 

According to EdRedesign Lab, “the Success Planning Community of Practice is a two-year opportunity, which includes a planning year for design or scaling and a second year for implementation and growth.” During the first year in the Community of Practice, Roch collaborated with school and community partners to assess the existing student navigation services offered at Cottonwood High School such as the Mentor 2.0 program through Big Brothers Big Sisters, Check & Connect run by Granite School District, and mentorship programs through AmeriCorps.

Despite these existing programs, a closer look revealed that a large percentage of Cottonwood students identified as at risk are not accessing navigation support. “We have strong data that the current programs aren’t necessarily helping the students who are at risk,” Roch said. “We’re tapping into existing programs to make sure the students who need our support are getting it. We’re hoping to expand upon that and improve it and embed it better within the ecosystem in the school.” 

This year, Promise Partners are working to implement and expand the Promise Student Advocates initiative at Cottonwood, East, and Hillcrest High Schools, and to begin a community-based success planning initiative in South Salt Lake. While these initiatives currently focus on pairing Advocates with students who display risk factors, the Partnership’s goal is to eventually expand the resource to be available to all high school students. 

Written by Jenna Fischer, Content Strategist