Refugee Student Mentor Program

In spring 2015, Middle Eastern Studies (MES) began a collaboration with the Austin Independent School District (AISD) to not only provide an essential service to our community but to also provide volunteer opportunities for UT students with foreign language skills to serve as mentors to refugee students in AISD schools.

The idea for this collaboration came from MES faculty member Jonathan Kaplan, who saw an influx of refugee children in his daughter’s elementary school. What started as a small program in just one school quickly grew into a volunteer program with over 50 UT students working with Arabic, Persian and Pashto speaking students at 16 AISD schools, from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

MES works with the AISD Refugee Support Office to assign volunteers to a specific school, and each student serves as a mentor to a small number of refugee students in that school for approximately 2-5 hours per week. MES also provides practical programmatic and language training to new student volunteers each semester.

The program seeks to help refugee children adapt to their new lives in America and acclimate to their roles as students. While many of these schools have English as a Second Language (ESL) programs, these programs are not well-suited for teaching students who speak Arabic or other languages not long-established in the Austin area. The Refugee Student Mentor Program not only fills a need within the local community, but it allows our students to learn about the cultures and experiences of refugees who are starting their new lives in America.

How To Get Involved

Students

If you are a UT Austin undergraduate or graduate student and you would like to put your language training to use helping students in the Austin community, please contact Bryan Sitzes. Student volunteers must complete AISD paperwork and attend a training session prior to volunteering.

Schools

If your school is interested in learning more about our program, please contact Bryan Sitzes.

Donate

When you give to the MES Refugee Student Mentor Program, you become a part of a program that impacts both UT Austin students as well as families all over the Austin area. Our students benefit from using the language(s) they learn at UT Austin, they gain professional experience, and they have a lasting impact on the community. Gifts from our friends and alumni help MES continue this important work in the community, creating a sustainable program that will benefit students and families for years to come.