By
Katie Clark
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Lora Gutierrez says she has attended a nutrition class at the University of Arizona and occasionally goes to the campus computer lab to check her e-mail.
Lora is also an eighth-grade student at Doolen Middle School.
But her Project SOAR (Student Opportunity for Academic Renewal) mentor, pre-education freshman Christina Garcia, takes Lora to class and to campus computer labs so she can check her e-mail and do research for her homework assignments.
"Some of it was boring," Lora says about the nutrition class. "They used a lot of big words."
But she also says that the experience has helped her realize how much she wants to go to college someday - and, hopefully, the UA.
"Probably Pima (Community College) first, though," says Lora's father, Daniel Gutierrez.
Project SOAR, a university-wide mentoring program, aims to help middle-school-aged students with their academic and social needs. There are 40 UA students and 40 TUSD students involved with the project.
"It's for those students who need that extra push to succeed," says Mario Ruiz, a Project SOAR mentor and an education junior.
"Their teachers see that they have potential," he says. "We help them out, socially and academically."
"All youth need positive people in their lives," adds Michelle Wood, Project SOAR program coordinator.
"Their families might not be able to spend as much time with the their kids," she adds.
Along with students and their families from Doolen, Mansfeld and Roskruge Middle Schools and Tucson High School, the UA student mentors gathered last night for a family meeting to make a "quilt" out of paper and string.
The theme of what Woods affectionately calls the "mentor quilt" is anything the students want it to be.
"Your culture, your mentor, Project SOAR, anything," she says to the crowd.
Lora chose to make her patch representative of what being in Project SOAR means to her. She carefully writes phrases like "spending time together" and pastes cutouts of stars and basketballs onto her "patch."
Her father and Garcia sit on either side of her, adding their own artistic touches to the creation.
Gutierrez says he has noticed a change in his daughter since she started with Project SOAR in August.
"Well, she's been on the honor-roll three times," he says, smiling with pride. "She still doesn't clean her room, though," he adds, laughing.
Gutierrez says he has also noticed changes in Lora's behavior and the way she interacts with other people since being paired with Garcia.
"She's more open," he says. "She listens more. She watches people's faces and the way they react."
Garcia says she is not only grateful for the impact she has on Lora's life, but also for the impact Lora has had on hers.
"She's like a little sister to me," Garcia says as she helps Lora paste shapes onto her patch.
"I also have a sense of what it might be like when I become a teacher," she adds.
But both she and Lora agree that what they really like is being able to have fun together.
"It's good to be with a college student," says Lora, and then she grins.
"But we have a whole bunch of fun."
