Holy Family Academy’s Alumni Mentoring Program began two years ago in the fall of 2021 when alumni, Grace Babineau, saw an opportunity to connect current and past students using zoom technology. The program is a subset of the Next Steps Program, the aim of which is to help prepare HFA upperclassmen for life beyond the academy. The program supports this effort by connecting HFA seniors with alumni who share similar interests and compatible personality traits to assist seniors along their journey to graduation. Students and mentors meet monthly, and mentors use a unique curriculum to facilitate relevant conversations. At the end of each meeting, mentors help students set one or more goals within three areas: character growth, spiritual development, and career or vocational discernment. The program supports the greater mission of Holy Family Academy by uniting the gifts of past and present students so that both might reach deeper communion in the life of Christ by fulfilling their individual vocations.

Below are some comments from past students about their experience in the program.

• I learned how to be confident in my decision making.
• It helps a lot to have someone to talk out loud to about your plans, especially if they are uncertain. Also, setting tiny goals really does help.
• I think via the Mentor program I was motivated in a certain manner to do better than I had been doing previously in school academics and also be more charitable and courageous.
• Having conversations with those who have gone through what I went through at HFA made me less worried about college.
• One week my mentor and I talked about identity. I still remember that conversation we had because of how interesting, realistic, and fruitful it was. It helped me realize what I wanted to do in my life and it shed light on my goals for the future. IT also helped me to understand myself in the present as well.
• I formed a great habit of spiritual reading before starting work and learned better how to open up to people and explain my ideas and plans clearly.
• Whenever I came for mentoring, I knew I would come away with a good plan and renewed energy.
• I hope to be a mentor sometime in the future!