We believe that all our students can benefit from an adult mentor who serves as a friend and guide. A mentor's responsibilities include not only helping a student stay on a college track while in secondary school but also, eventually, offering advice and encouragement during the first year of college, when many low-income students drop out. Mentors also play a critical role in helping students navigate their social and emotional relationships. Many of our students have few adult role models to guide them through this important and often difficult part of growing up. With the help and guidance of Big Brothers Big Sisters, we have launched pilot programs to match approximately 450 students with mentors. Our hope is ultimately to provide every student with a mentor. For information about how you and other members of your organization can become mentors, click here. We also believe that experience in the real world will help motivate our students by making their education relevant to their futures. That's why we arrange internships for most of our sophomores and juniors. The Vera Institute of Justice, for instance, created two summer fellow positions for School of Law and Justice students. Students at other Urban Assembly schools have interned at News Corporation, the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn, with the New York Yankees and Jets, and at many other organizations in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.