Imara Roose Inc., an after-school mentoring program at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, captures its mission statement with its name.
In Swahili, “Imara” means strong and resolute. “Roose,” pronounced the same as “rose,” is a pun on the school’s name and symbolizes beauty.
The program consists of 30 female college students from the University of Maryland, Bowie State University and Howard University who mentor 45 Roosevelt students to be the next generation of female leaders who are “mentally strong, resolute in their determination to succeed, and beautiful inside and out,” said Nicole McKoy, Imara Roose’s media maven.
The girls receive assistance with college preparation and career development, as well as a space to talk about what’s going on in their lives.
Nia Brown, an 11th grader at the high school, joined the program two years ago when her friend convinced her it would be a great opportunity to meet fellow young women headed in a successful direction, she said.
“It’s very vital to have a mentor group,” Brown said. “Sometimes you get lost. Before, I was kind of lost, and grades and everything [were] just piling up, [as well as] applications for college.”
Now, she said, she has relationships with nearly all of the mentors.
Every Monday after school is “Mentor Monday.” Typically, the girls have a group discussion about something the mentors feel is relevant to high school girls, such as beauty and self-image, said junior kinesiology major Lindsey Better, an executive board member.
After the group discussion, the girls split up into small groups and come up with two affirmations to put on their mirrors at home. They then discuss what they wrote and why before reconvening as a large group.
Besides Mentor Mondays, Imara Roose members participate in community service events and fundraisers and spend time with their mentor or mentee outside of planned programming time.
Recently, they took their annual field trip to Washington and went to the White House, Capitol Hill and the Google office to meet with women of color who work there, said Executive Director Halima Adenegan, who founded the program in 2011.
Freshman journalism major Racquel Royer joined Imara Roose after receiving an email from the Nyumburu Cultural Center. As an out-of-state student, she didn’t know anyone and thought the program sounded like something she would have liked as a high school student.
“[My mentee is] more of like a friend … than a little sister,” Royer said. “She’s a senior [in high school] and I’m a freshman, so it’s kind of like we’re the same age. Even though she can still learn from me, I don’t try to baby her or act like I’m so much wiser than her. We kind of learn from each other.”
As a high school athlete, Better said her team was like her family within her school community, but she added that many of the girls in Imara Roose don’t have that kind of support system.
“The fact that I’m there and I’m able to be a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. … It makes me feel like I’m doing my job,” Better said. “Even if I’m just a last resort … at least [these girls] have someone to come to so they don’t have to keep that bottled up and ultimately make a decision they may regret.”
Mentoring is the best way to give back, and everyone who has the opportunity to give back should do so, she said.
“As a mentor, I was looking to help these girls, and I feel like I already gained so much,” Royer said. “When you want to help somebody else, it opens you up.”
