(PASSAIC, NJ) -- More Than Bootstraps (MTB), a New Jersey non-profit organization, announces that Roselyn Muñoz (Fairleigh Dickinson University) has been selected to take on the leadership position of Program Resource Fellow (PRF).
Since graduating from Passaic Academy for Science and Engineering (PASE) in 2023, Roselyn has thrived at Fairleigh Dickinson University. A criminal justice major, she will graduate with both a BA and MA in May 2025.
Roselyn takes the helm from Lisbeth (Kamila) Gell. Kamila (Kean University) led as PRF during Summer and Fall 2024. Kamila will continue to serve in MTB as a College Student Leader while she focuses her attention on the demands of student teaching and completes her college career.
Roselyn is the first former MTB High School Fellow to take on the role of PRF. She will help lead MTB alongside Melissa Reyes (Dartmouth College), who served as Roselyn’s mentor when Roselyn was in high school.
Now in its fifth year of programming, MTB employs a near-peer mentoring approach to address the challenges first-generation, low-income students face in accessing and succeeding in higher education. Working with underrepresented students in Passaic, NJ, the organization matches high school students with near-peer mentors – graduates of the Passaic Public Schools currently enrolled in institutions from Wellesley College to William Paterson University. Led by their college student mentors, MTB High School Fellows follow a curriculum that focuses on education about higher education and financial aid, communication with families, holistic student development, and the promotion of student well-being and agency.
Grants and donations to More Than Bootstraps fund the monthly stipends that allow the high school and college students in the program some time and space to devote to their professional development and college-going activities while still meeting their financial responsibilities.
“Roselyn has benefited from MTB as a high school student. She has mentored her younger peers. Now, she will help lead our programing. This progression and student leadership development epitomizes the vision of MTB,” said Audrey Fisch, president of More Than Bootstraps.
Grants and donations to More Than Bootstraps fund the monthly stipends that allow the high school and college students in the program some time and space to devote to their professional development and college-going activities while still meeting their financial responsibilities. Interested donors are invited to visit the MTB website.
More Than Bootstraps is a nonprofit created by educators seeking to level the playing field and remove some of the substantial barriers that first-generation college students encounter in accessing and succeeding in higher education. More Than Bootstraps employs a near-peer mentoring model to create a community of success. College students from the community return to guide their younger peers in the community through the college search, application, and assimilation process. These leaders, working as a mentoring cohort, in turn strengthen their own college-going identities and improve their own chances of success in higher education.
Students are selected based on their desire to attend college and their commitment to the program rather than grade point average or test scores. All students in the MTB program receive stipends, laptop computers, and access to emergency resources to help them with the many non-tuition expenses of higher education.
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