AAMP 2024-2025 Opening Session

We kicked off a new year of our Alpha Academy Mentoring Program! In our opening session discussed a great deal of information with mentees and parents, to include a full recap of the 2023-2024 year, the 2024-2025 program schedule, along with numerous updates and changes we have made to the program. We will continue to meet at Annapolis Middle School on the second Saturday of each month from 9am -1pm. This year we will be implementing targeted tutoring, mentoring, and mental health discussions during the last hour of each session. Our intent with respect to mental health, is to give mentees a safe environment to discuss issues they may be encountering

and for us to assist them in navigating. We will also be incorporating the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) into our program. Our high school mentees will be receiving this training, which discusses topics such as conflict resolution, public speaking, community and civic engagement, and educational enhancement skills. Those who demonstrate the requisite knowledge, community and civic involvement, will be afforded the opportunity to attend our Eastern Regional Convention in April 2025 and engage will highly respected leaders from across the Eastern Region. The Pinewood Derby Project will continue to be a focus with our middle school students, culminating with Race Day at the end of the academic year. In addition to our monthly sessions, mentees will also participate in events such as College Fairs, Young Men’s Conference, Community Service Initiative, Black History Tour, and others events that will be scheduled throughout the year. Our program continues to grow and expand in its reach and impact. We are pleased to welcome a large group of new enrollees and are excited to help these young men grow this year! 

New Additions to Program: 

• Intro to Rocketry: Our middle schoolers who have already participated in the Pinewood Derby race car build and competition will be participating in a rocketry curriculum. They will start with the basics, learning about all of the components that go into designing, building, and properly launching rockets. They will be able to demonstrate all they learned at the end of the school year. 

• Chess: Our curriculum for our elementary school mentees will be slightly different from STEM projects as we did last year. This school year our mentees will be learning the game of chess. Starting from the basics all the way to competing against each other 

• Community Service Engagement: All our mentees will be learning the importance of giving back and becoming active members of their communities. There are projects/service efforts planned for all our mentees. 

• Partnership with EnBloom: As explained during the opening session, EnBloom will be spearheading the community involvement for our elementary and middle school mentees. Through this partnership our mentees will learn about gardening, get to grow their own fruits and vegetables, and get to participate in juicing different fruits and vegetables that they have grown. 

• Leadership Development Institute: Our high school mentees will be working with our LDI committee on building leadership skills under 3 main topics: Leadership, Civic Engagement, and Education. Selected mentees will get to participate in the LDI annual conference sponsored by the program. The next conference will be held in Bethesda MD, April18th & 19th 2025. 

•