Criminal Justice students are applying school theories to help find solutions in the community through the Sac-Mentoring program.

Sac-Mentoring program coordinator and criminal justice professor Ricky Gutierrez said the department has partnered with various local high schools since 1998 and is now working with Rosemont High School.

“The main purpose of the program is to prevent youth from becoming involved with the justice system, by providing proactive services that will hopefully help them reconnect with their education and family life,” Gutierrez said.

The criminal justice students involved in the program apply social behavior theories and educational concepts they have learned through critical thinking, while providing Rosemont High School youth with positive guidance and tutoring.

Service learning programs, such as Sac-Mentoring, have been  proven to help students in a variety of ways according to the article “Service Learning and Criminal Justice Students: An Assessment of the Effects of Co-Curricular Pedagogy on Graduation Rates” by Gutierrez.

These programs improve academic achievement, increase engagement in learning, allow better understanding of school content  and provide a higher sense of civic responsibility.

The article also found service learning youths earned higher scores in standardized testing for reading and language arts.

Mentees involved in the program are considered at-risk youth who have many disciplinary referrals or problems with law enforcement, have low academics and may drop out of school.

The at-risk youths are referred to the program by social workers, counselors, teachers or parents.

“Students mentor the youth for three hours a week, write weekly reflection papers that address the integration of theory and practice and they attend bi-weekly reflection sessions,” Gutierrez said.

Mentors are also required to attend three to four program events such as movie nights, fundraising efforts and end of the year celebrations.

There is also a shadowing week, where students take the mentee to campus and show them the college experience.

Gutierrez said although the mentors are primarily from the criminal justice department, other majors within the College of Health and Human Services also benefit from the program.

Graduate student Luis Pagan majored in criminal justice as an undergraduate but said the program led him to pursue a master’s degree in social work.

“I wanted to join the program mainly to give back to the community and practice restorative justice, and participating gave me guidance towards social work,” Pagan said. “The program helps socially and psychosocially because it offers high school students someone to look up to that has recently graduated from high school and someone to talk to about anything that may be happening at home.”

Pagan said the program is a great way to help restore the at-risk youth by guiding and advising them instead of penalizing them like many schools do.

“I’ve seen changes in grades going up, students becoming more sociable with their peers and there was a behavior change with those that were getting into trouble, such as fighting or having too many absences,” Pagan said.

To become a mentor, students need pass a background check and fill an application that is later used to match the mentor with a  mentee based on their level of need, interests and hobbies.

Criminal justice major Melissa Penaflor said despite the matching process, it can be difficult to gain the students’ trust.

“You need to be there for them and do whatever you say you’re going to do,” Penaflor said. “One student I worked with would lie to me and her parents, but then there are those who do work hard and end up in college.”

Penaflor said mentors are able to help students with one-on-one tutoring and can show how to have fun and do good in school at the same time.

The program is currently working on partnering with Youth Connections Unlimited, a non-profit organization dedicated to working with at-risk young people, to have students mentor youths incarcerated at the Juvenile Detention Facility in Sacramento.