Welcome to ASPIRE Mentorship

What is Aspire Mentorship?

        A mentor is one who empowers others to hold a goal and helps them achieve it. This is the philosophy behind the TAMS RO’s Aspire Mentorship Program, which strives to ignite a passion for exploring the unknown within younger students of the community, as well as continuing to foster a passion for research and discovery within both TAMS students and the younger generation. TAMS students involved within the Aspire Mentorship program visit Calhoun Middle School every Monday for four months in order to guide middle school students with their scientific investigations.
        These talented and promising young students exercise the scientific method, view scientific phenomena in action, and are mentored to be able to communicate their results effectively at the Fort Worth Regional Science and Engineering Fair, where they can learn about the process of research from their peers and experienced judges, continuing to improve, and advance through the rounds of the fair.
​        The supportive and lasting bond formed between the mentor and the mentee during this process is paramount. Each middle school student participating in the program is paired with a select TAMS student, carefully selected by an experienced panel after applying to become a mentor, so any students, parents, or teachers can rest assured that the mentors will be able to do their job effectively, with great potential to teach and guide their mentees through the experimentation process. By participating in this exchange, TAMS students are able to understand the roles of being an effective mentor, and the mentees are able to begin to identify where their research interests may lie.The benefits for involved TAMS students extend far beyond serving as a mentor; the program allows TAMS students to learn in different ways by interacting with the students and teachers and enduring various conflicts and challenges throughout the process, building communication and problem solving skills. By enabling young students with fresh outlooks and creative minds to conduct research in a community that could benefit from that very research, RO’s Aspire Mentorship helps to structure the framework for the next generation of scientists to make a contribution towards the realm of innovation and discovery.
 

Personal Stories:

Helen's Story:

         "At the beginning of Aspire Mentorship, I had no idea what it was going to be like. I had never done science fair before, and now I was expected to help someone else do it? But arriving at Calhoun for the first time changed that. I met my precious mentee, Edith, who was so nervous to meet me that she was shaking. She had no idea what she wanted to do for her experiment, so we worked together for several days to decide, and finally settled on a project involving plants and weed killer. We were put with a group doing a similar project and our newly formed family of five set off with our experiment. We ran into several obstacles, but in the end we succeeded and made an amazing board, summarizing our project. Not only did we achieve a lot, but we all developed a lot too! Although at the beginning, Edith, my mentee, was very shy and nervous, she grew to be a lot more social and comfortable around everyone and was ready to enter high school with her new knowledge. I learned a lot too, from working with middle schoolers, high schoolers, and teachers, I took away a lot that I will use later!"

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Swapnika's Story:

        "The first day of Aspire Mentorship, I showed up to Calhoun Middle School and all of the students were eagerly waiting to meet the TAMS Aspire Mentorship Team. I was very nervous, but mostly excited to help these kids that had already shown a passion to do research and work outside of societal norms in ways that push the limits of many disciplines. After the initial greetings, I was introduced to my very sweet and gorgeous mentee, Amyiah. As an eighth grader at Calhoun, she was interested in astronomy, environmental science, and nutrition. At first, we were very torn apart on what area of science to start our project with; however, we ended up working on nutrition. Amyiah wanted to pursue a project regarding the coloring on candy and how quickly it wore off during the digestion process and how that affected overall health. Due to my mentee’s hardwork and dedication to work even over Christmas Break, we successfully completed the project; however, due to extenuating circumstances she wasn’t able to participate in the fair. Through this experience, Amyiah learned a lot about time management and dealing with a busy load (on top of her already rigorous school and extracurricular life). In addition, she became more comfortable with collaborating on project with older students and proved herself worthy of the transition into high school. I also learned a lot on how to interact and captivate those younger than me; in addition, I also learned about the interests and capabilities of the upcoming generations, which I will keep in mind for any future ventures regarding younger students."

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Sangita's Story:

On a scale of 1-4, how much did you like this program?
​“10,000!”
​- Zoe

        "Zoe, our 7th grader mentee, was initially only sitting in our afterschool program because her mom thought it would be good exposure to her. She told me that science, to her, was the boring part of the day. Zoe, talented, was falling behind purely because of a disinterest in school subjects. But Zoe liked explosions, so my co-mentor and I branched off of that. Zoe was curious about what they were and how they happened, so we decided to look into modelling explosions of air bags made of baking soda and vinegar. Each day, Zoe was learning how to pursue her curiosities rather than to hide from them in search of something more immediately interesting. More than this, I, myself, valuably learned that a path to anything is never obstacle-free. Zoe ended up qualifying for the State Science Fair, but more than ever, she had won a love for learning--especially in science! She excitedly tells me about her project for next year, and I cannot deny this as one of the most fulfilling experiences I’ve had."

 

Shreya's Story:

“My favorite part was getting new information about science. Going to the fair was good because you get to gain knowledge in your project’s topic and others.”
​- Alyssa

         "After my first interaction with Alyssa, a girl of eclectic interests, primarily including music and spelling, I was concerned whether science would make the list of one of the many things she was passionate about. But I soon realized that I had no reason to worry; Alyssa was a perfect attendance student who was ebullient about the prospects of executing a four-month long science fair investigation. Alyssa’s inquisitiveness within the fields of microbiology and pH studies allowed her to weave the perfect project for her: an investigation on the effect of various pH levels on inducing bacteriostatic/bactericidal processes. Alyssa was always eager to broaden her perspective on the impacts of her research, and I found myself even more excited to teach such a motivated young girl. Alyssa has understood that the preliminary research she has conducted could enable citizens of third-world countries to deplete bacteria in their environment by administering common, low-cost household additives; she has realized the true value and potential of her research. Indubitably, there were many setbacks during this four-month journey, but scientific advancement is driven by failures. Being involved in a research lab myself, I now better understand the expectations my mentor has for me, and subsequently, I have become a more informed mentee myself. Alyssa’s hard work and diligence has resulted in an advancement to the Texas State Science and Engineering Fair. Alyssa earned the “Best of Fair” award, among others, at the Fort Worth Regional Science and Engineering Fair. Even with these accolades and medals, Alyssa remains focused and very humble about her accomplishments - another mark of a great scientist. I am excited to see what’s in store for Alyssa, and I will always consider this experience to be one of the greatest privileges of my research career."