Preparing Today’s Students for the Jobs of Tomorrow

When it comes to helping today’s students graduate from high school and succeed in the workforce, a mentor can make all the difference. In fact, more than one in three students at risk of not graduating from high school grow up without an adult mentor in their life. That’s why we’ve made mentoring a key component of AT&T Aspire, our signature education initiative committed to helping students across the country prepare for college and career – so they can be ready for the jobs of tomorrow.

Students like Timothy Mayorga. Timothy wasn’t sure where he was headed after high school until he met his mentor Elizabeth Palomo, an AT&T plant engineer. With Elizabeth’s help, Timothy is not only pursuing a career in engineering, but he’s also become the first in his family to go to college. “I feel like I’ve broken the cycle. It makes me feel like I’m doing something with my life,” he says.

We want to ensure that all students – no matter their background – have access to tools that will help them graduate from high school and succeed in the workforce. So we created the Aspire Mentoring Academy.

Through the Aspire Mentoring Academy, we set a goal to provide 1 million hours of student mentoring by AT&T employees by the end of 2016. We are proud to announce that our employees are already halfway to reaching that goal. By working with programs like We Teach Science, Girls Who Code, Communities in Schools and Big Brothers Big Sisters, we’re connecting the skills and expertise of our employees – particularly in tech fields – with more than 65,000 students across the country.

The Aspire Mentoring Academy is just one part of the AT&T Aspire initiative, our $350 million investment in education. From mobilizing learning in the classroom to powering career skills for the jobs of tomorrow, AT&T is committed to helping students and communities across the country.

Learn more about our commitment at att.com/aspire and join the conversation with #ATTimpact. Tell us how you are working in your community to prepare students for college and career.