With the start of the new semester, Pomona College’s Latine-Identity Empowerment, Advice, and Friendship (LEAF) Program has begun recruiting new volunteers. The program aims to provide local youth with mentorship focused on personal growth, cultural pride and mental health awareness while connecting them with role models who share their Latine heritage and experiences.
Launched in Spring 2022, LEAF is a collaborative effort between Pomona College’s Draper Center for Community Partnerships and the Claremont-based nonprofit organization Uncommon Good. Mentors meet with their mentees once a week, engaging in bonding activities funded by the Draper Center such as grabbing boba or visiting a toy store in the Claremont Village.
“[Being a mentor] is more like older sibling vibes,” Alexa Tapia-Plazola PO ’26, one of LEAF’s coordinators, said. “It’s helping your mentee learn to explore their identity and navigate their school and social life. We also have conversations surrounding what it means to be Latinx and ways to celebrate that.”
Tapia-Plazola, who is originally from San Bernardino, said that she would have benefited from a program like LEAF growing up.
“Most [low-income Latine] families don’t know a lot about college, and I think it’s really important for students at this age to have a role model that’s someone older [who] comes from the same background and respects them,” Tapia-Plazola said.
Each month, LEAF hosts events where mentors, mentees and their families can gather to connect, celebrate Latine culture and participate in creative activities. Recent events have included a Brazilian cooking workshop, a game night and movie screenings.
As LEAF continues to grow, one of the program’s ongoing challenges is recruiting enough mentors to meet demand. LEAF, like many organizations on campus, has to navigate the struggle of appealing to college students with busy schedules.
As a mentor, Tapia-Plazola explained that the time commitment is fairly low and flexible.
“Unlike other programs where there’s a set time where you meet with your mentee, you coordinate with your mentee and their parents for whatever time is most convenient for all of you,” Tapia-Plazola said.
Assistant Director of Educational Outreach at the Draper Center and direct supervisor of LEAF Andres “Fluffy” Aguilar, highlighted the importance of Latine 5C student role models in the greater Latine community of the Claremont and Pomona areas.
“LEAF allows mentees to see something different, especially if they’re [a first-generation student] going into college or thinking about college,” Aguilar said. “They get to see someone who’s already done it, someone that can possibly guide them through that process.”
Carlos Carrillo, Educational Program Director at Uncommon Good, echoed this sentiment.
“Having someone who has gone through what these mentees have faced, and [who is] now at these prestigious universities like Pomona College, opens their eyes to great possibilities,” Carrillo said.
To Aguilar, the LEAF Program is one of the most meaningful programs at the 5Cs because of the impactful relationship it allows college students to build with students from similar backgrounds.
“I can guarantee you that this kid will go home at the end of the day and will take something from your experience together,” Aguilar said. “And they will realize much later how much you impacted their life and the trajectory of their life.”
According to Carrillo, the concept of mentorship transcends generations and the LEAF program takes a necessary step in contributing to an essential chain of community service.
“I always tell students never to forget why and how they got where they are, because there was always someone who was a mentor that helped them get to that place,” Carrillo said.
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