What is BriM (Bridging Milestones)?

As the name suggests, Bridging Milestones is a program that connects youths in two critical milestones: high school and postsecondary.

Designed by youths who themselves are in post secondary (and understand the importance of proactively preparing), the program pairs students in high school with compatible* students in post secondary for ongoing one-on-one* mentorship. These biweekly (2X/month) sessions offer high school youths with valuable insight on navigating secondary and post-secondary in all aspects, from academics to extracurriculars to wellness. The sessions also offer an enriching volunteer experience for post secondary mentors.

In addition, the program features four main cohort events for all participants, challenging them to further develop leadership skills and providing a platform to network and grow both personal and professional circles.


Program goals:

  1. Providing ongoing one-on-one mentorship opportunities that enhance mutual learning in mentees and mentors

  1. Providing networking opportunities for all program participants

  1. Fostering development of critical life skills such as leadership and communication

* Compatibility is determined by 1) mentor's current faculty and mentee’s academic interest and 2) similar extracurricular interests.

* Biweekly one-on-one sessions do not have a prescribed format.


2021-2022 Program Timeline

  1. Bridging Milestones Information Session*

  • May 16th, 2021 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm MST

  1. Application Form opens *

  • May 16th, 2021 at 7:00 pm MST

  1. Mentors Orientation (cohort event #1)

  • Early August 2021

  1. Mentees Orientation (cohort event #1)

  • Early August 2021

  1. BriM Pairing Event (cohort event #2)

  • Late August 2021

  • Pairs (mentor+mentee) will be announced and will get to know each other.

  1. One-on-One Mentor and Mentee Meetings

  • May be virtual or in-person and will occur twice a month (biweekly basis).

  • September 2021 to December 2021

  1. Midpoint Check In (cohort event #3)

  • Early January 2022

  1. One-on-One Mentor and Mentee Meetings

  • May be virtual or in-person and will occur twice a month (biweekly basis).

  • January 2022 to April 2022

  1. Concluding Meeting (cohort event #4)

  • Early May 2022

* = must fill a Google Form. Please see the links below.

Note: All cohort meetings will be virtual. One-on-one meetings may be virtual or in person as mutually agreed upon.


Mentor Eligibility*:

  • Must be entering year 2+ of an undergraduate program at a Canadian post secondary institution in September 2021

  • Must be committed to attending mandatory one-on-one meetings twice a month with mentee(s) for 30-60 minutes

  • Must be committed to attending 4 mandatory group meetings: Mentor Orientation, BriM Pairing, BriM Midpoint Check In and BriM Concluding Meeting (each 1-3 hours)

  • Must be willing to fill 1-2 surveys with program feedback

  • Must be able to establish a professional and respectful relationship with mentee(s)

Mentee Eligibility*:

  • Must be entering Grade 10-12 in September 2021

  • Must be committed to attending mandatory one-on-one meetings twice a month with mentee(s) for 30-60 minutes

  • Must be committed to attending 4 mandatory group meetings: Mentor Orientation, BriM Pairing, BriM Midpoint Check In and BriM Concluding Meeting (each 1-3 hours)

  • Must be willing to fill 1-2 surveys with program feedback

  • Must be able to establish a professional and respectful relationship with mentor

* Mentor or mentee eligibility is not restricted to age. If you meet the criteria stated above, please apply even if you aren’t a youth.


Application forms:

  1. Mentor Application form (due: July 30 at 11:59 MST): Click here

  2. Mentee Application form (due: July 30 at 11:59 MST): Click here

Contact:

Swornima Rana - Media (E: swornima.rana@weandtheworld.ca)

Nandini Basuray - Communications (E: nandini.basuray@weandtheworld.ca)

Ashwini Gadtoula - Wellness Learning & Services Coordinator (E: ashwini.gadtoula@weandtheworld.ca)

Aakankshya Kharel - Youth Program Coordinator (E: aakankshya.kharel@weandtheworld.ca)

Impact and Achievement

Our first cycle of program officially commenced on August 1st, 2020 and completed on May 16th, 2021. We successfully:

  • Recruited and connected 12 high school students from nine different high schools and 6 post-secondary mentees from five different faculties.

  • Held 4 main networking events for all program participants

  • Paired mentors and mentees for one-on-one mentorship and offered ongoing support for successful meetings

Aakankshya Kharel

Aakankshya is the Youth Programs Coordinator for We and the World Centre. She is a third-year BSc student at the University of Alberta. She is passionate about empowering youths to pursue higher education and civic engagement. She hopes that BriM can facilitate the development of strong mentor and mentee relationships and empower both parties. Shoutout to all the volunteers involved in the program!

Ashwini Gadtoula

Ashwini is a fourth-year Political Science and International Studies student at the University of Alberta. She is the Events Executive for BriM. Apart from BriM, Ashwini is also an equity officer for the University of Alberta Debate Society (UADS). She hopes you have a fulfilling time with BriM and make the most of it!

Nandini Basuray

Nandini is a Masters student completing her thesis on Human Nutrition and Metabolism at the U of A. She is excited to be the External Communications executive for BriM. Beyond BriM, she has been heavily involved on campus in her roles as Director of Mentorship and VP of Events in two campus organizations. She also volunteers on campus to promote community health and well being. While fulfilling these roles, she has ensured to excel academically as well. She is very delighted to be part of BriM and she is looking forward to helping enrich the knowledge base about university life between mentors and mentees!

Swornima Rana

Swornima is a second year student in the Faculty of Science in University of Alberta. She is one of the two Event Coordinators for BriM and will be responsible for organizing events online and offline for our mentors and mentees. She will also be involved in social media outreach on behalf of BriM. In her spare time she likes learning new languages by watching different series and movies. She’s looking forward to helping plan some great activities for our mentees and mentors!

Jennifer Huynh

Jennifer is a first-year student and Schulich Leader at the University of Alberta studying Mathematical Physics in the Faculty of Science. With a passion for giving back and empowering her community, Jennifer strives to build strong and meaningful connections with those around her and is especially excited to join BriM as a mentor. In her spare time, she also enjoys volunteering, travelling, and reading.

Scott Sharma

Hi I am Scott from Ottawa! I am a secondary education student at Bishop's University with a focus in Social Studies where I am also on the variety rugby team. I am a 2020 TD Scholar for Community Leadership. At my best I am working to make my community a better and more inclusive place for all while empowering youth. Very Excited to be a part of the Team!

George Khalil

My name is George Khalil, I am 21 years old, and I am a third-year dental student at the

University of Laval in Quebec City. Prior to university, I went to Cegep in Montreal where I

completed my two years of pre-university studies in the health science program at John Abbott

College.



Gaurab Acharya

My name is Gaurab Acharya and I'm a Nepali-Canadian student, currently in my third year, pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering at UBC. I enjoy programming, sports, and hiking in my spare time. I also love learning new things and sharing ideas, so feel free to reach out for a chat.

Sanjeev Kotha

Hi my name is Sanjeev Kotha and I'm a third year Honors Computing Science student at the University of Alberta from India. In my free time, I play badminton, go on hikes and bike from time to time.

Ademola Adebowale

Ademola is a third-year engineering student at the University of Alberta. He is one of the post-secondary mentors for BriM. He is highly passionate about helping others and contributing positively to the community. With volunteering experience spanning several years, Ademola aims to use what he learned to enrich the experiences at BriM. He is honored to be a part of BriM and is looking forward to being a great resource for the mentees!

Jamie Kim

Hi, I'm Jamie. Currently I am a 3rd year Chemistry student attending the University of Alberta. I come from a small town called Ponoka, where we have the world's largest Bronc and Rider statue (look it up). Some things I enjoy are getting out and doing activities like hiking, playing soccer, and snowboarding. Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy staying inside and being lazy too.



Alex Liao

Hello, my name is Alex, I am currently a 2nd-year architecture student at the University of Toronto. I have experience volunteering for different health organizations including senior homes as well as hospital committees. Some of my hobbies include sports -such as basketball, swimming, tennis- which I do often, music as I am an ARCT pianist and lots of reading, especially manga. I look forward to assisting anyone who may need some pointers in looking for volunteer hours, how to write essays, and even math questions, any question is a good question!



Pallawi Paudel

Hi I am Pallawi, in second-year sciences majoring in Atmospheric Sciences and minoring in Physical Sciences. My interest include space, aviation and dance.

Subha Luitel

I am Subha, currently a second year Nursing student at St. Lawrence College in Cornwall, affiliated with Laurentian University. I love writing, reading, singing. I write poems, usually free verse to keep myself calm and busy if I’m stressed.


Aafia Javed

Aafia Javed is currently enrolled in her 5th year completing her French minor. She is also in a Psychology major and a Biology minor at the University of Toronto. She hopes to help students ease into the post-secondary education process to avoid anxiety or stress by providing advice to the best of her knowledge.



Pyper Ryan

My name is Pyper, and I’m in the Bachelor of Education (Secondary) Program at the University of Alberta, with a major in English and a minor in Social Studies. In addition to being a mentor for Bridging Milestones, I also work as a Technology Coach for Technologies in Education at the U of A.

Maria George

I am a third year electrical engineering student at the University of Alberta. I am interested in the power engineering field, specifically with renewable energy. Outside of classes, I work with the Engineering Students' Society at the University of Alberta to support underrepresented communities in engineering.

Katherine Balderson

I'm a hard working individual currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in nursing. I've chosen this career path because I feel that in order to find happiness and fulfillment in my daily life I need to be actively engaged with and serving my community. I strongly believe in the pursuit of equity and advocacy through health care, and hope to use my work to help create long term change in communities that face socioeconomic and cultural barriers when it comes to health and wellness. As someone who comes from a mixed ethnic and cultural family, I feel that cultural diversity is strength and hope to foster cultural competency and awareness in my work as well. In my free time I enjoy training and teaching as a black belt in taekwondo and would one day like to work in paediatric medicine!