For our high school mentees, we wanted to create a fun hands-on element, so when students register, they'll choose from a selection of STEM project kits. You can see the kits from our last high school cohort here. Once you're matched, we'll send you the kit they've chosen to give you a head start in reviewing the instructions and materials. After a few weeks of relationship-building, we'll send the same kit to your mentee so you can spend the rest of the program helping them to complete the project.

Yes! The application form will ask how many mentees you're willing to host at a time and you can choose between 1 and 5. We LOVE returning mentors, so we encourage you to participate in future cohorts as well!

When you fill out the application form, you'll create your mentor profile to share a bit about yourself, including a short introduction video. After registration closes, we'll invite mentees to the matching portal where they can see all of the mentor profiles and save a list of potential matches. Our team will use those lists to finalize a match. Mentees may opt to let us do all of the matching for them. In those cases, we'll look at the their goals, availability, and interests to find the right fit. Not all mentors who complete onboarding are guaranteed a match. In some cases, we may have more mentors than needed for the cohort. Any onboarded mentors that do not get matched will be prioritized in the next cohort. 

Mentors must be at least 18 years old. The ideal mentor for the Luminaries program has a career and/or education in the big wide world of STEM. The most important qualifier is that you approach the relationship with your mentee with humility, curiosity, and empathy. Mentors who are matched in our high school cohort must complete a background check.

When the mentor application opens in Nov/Dec, you'll have the ability to select which group(s) you're interested in supporting: students in grades 8-12 and/or adults in the early stages of their career.