At the start of the school year, new students can find it difficult to adjust to Choate. Three years ago, at the start of the 2017-2018 school year, Dr. Keith Hinderlie, Director of Equity and Inclusion, created Choate’s Pathways Program to help students of color begin to find their place within the School.
The stated goal of the Pathways Program is to support new students of color through their first year on campus, which is often full of challenging academic and social transitions. According to Dr. Hinderlie, there is common, consistent knowledge that environmental factors often impact the way students of color adjust to life on predominantly white campuses.
By the time Dr. Hinderlie founded Pathways, he had run similar programs for more than 20 years at other independent schools. During the 2016-2017 school year, a strong development in student interest in having a peer mentor element for students of color helped lead to the creation of the program.
Mentors of the Pathways Program believe that their role is of utmost importance to helping students of color adapt to Choate. Esi Dunyoh ’20, a former Pathways mentor, said, “I think that there’s a lot of selflessness that has to be a part of it, because you have to take yourself out of this position as someone who’s been at this school for years.”
The Pathways Program relies primarily on student mentors from the fifth and sixth forms, students who have already transitioned to Choate. Having students of color already well into their Choate education who want to help younger students of color transition to life on campus is, according to Dr. Hinderlie, vital. Krystal McCook ’20 said “It can be hard to look around your class and be one of the only students of color, so I like being someone that these students can talk to and someone that helps them conquer life at Choate.”
Now that Pathways is entering its third year, students who were mentees in their third form have the opportunity to become mentors — indeed, all but two of this year’s Pathways mentors were mentees as third formers.
Pathways hosts events during the year for mentees to bond with mentors. The program hosts a pre-orientation at the beginning of the fall term, during which students can spend time with their mentors before school officially starts. It also holds a cookout for all students of color at the beginning and end of the school year, as well as four other events dispersed throughout. These events, ranging from the Pathways barbeque to opening day orientation, typically focuses on easing students’ transitions or giving advice to mentees on combating stereotypes.
Bradley Wang ’21, now a Pathways mentor, said, “When I came in, it was a hard transition from a school with an Asian majority, so I wanted to help other kids in the same position as me out and avoid the same conflict I had.”
For anyone wishing to apply to become a Pathways mentor, Dr. Hinderlie urges students to listen for an announcement in the spring regarding applications. The process will take place through the Choate Common Application.
