‘AAPI Connect,’ Student Mentor App. Due May 9

In 2021, NOVA was awarded a five-year $1.3 million grant from the Department of Education to support Asian American Native American Pacific Islander (AANAPI) students. As part of the grant activities, NOVA will launch a peer mentoring program on the Annandale Campus for these students called AAPI Connect.

AAPI Connect is a culturally based peer mentoring program that seeks to serve AAPI students and address issues of identity and culture that matter to them. AAPI students are currently enrolled students who self-identify as Asian American and/or Native American Pacific Islander. Ethnic backgrounds may include, but are not limited to, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Pakistani, Filipino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, Native Hawaiian, Fijian, Micronesian or other Pacific Islanders.

We are now recruiting students to participate in the 2022-2023 cohort as Peer Mentors and Mentees.

• Peer Mentors are returning NOVA students who have successfully navigated their first year at NOVA, have strong interpersonal skills and are open and eager to help new students. The Peer Mentor application is open through May 9.
• Mentees are students who are seeking additional connection and support, due to academic difficulties, unsuccessful completion of gateway ENG or MTH courses, uncertainty of major or are new to NOVA. The Mentee registration form is open through August 31.

Students who are ineligible for AAPI Connect can still participate in AAPI programming sponsored by the Office of DEI and the AANAPISI Intercultural Learning Center (opening fall 2022). We hope to expand this program to more campuses in 2023.

Please share this information with your AAPI students at Annandale or refer them to: Dr. Carolyn Hurley, AAPI Connect Faculty Lead, churley@nvcc.edu

Submitted by:
Ed Aymar, DEI Communications Coord., EAymar@nvcc.edu