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The Special Topics Program is a collection of small groups of high school students led by college mentors in discussion and research of a topic in weekly, hour-long virtual meetings. It is run by The STEM & Leaf Corps, a non-profit in the state of Texas and student organization at Texas Tech University. As a mentor, you get the chance to explore a topic that you are passionate about and share your enthusiasm with high school students. Mentoring is an extremely gratifying experience! The proposed topics for this semester can be found below and include topics that previous students have expressed an interest in pursuing as well as previous topics that were successful. Please note that while you are encouraged to select a topic from the list below, you may present your own topic idea to the Special Topics Program coordinators and lead that program based on their approval. 

Proposed Topics for Fall 2022

• Academic Writing

• Artificial Intelligence

• Political Science

• Biology/Medical Science Topic

• Computer Science 

• Psychology

Information Session: Monday, August 22nd at 11AM (Meeting link can be found in mentor application) 

Mandatory Mentor Training: Wednesday, August 24th at 5PM 

Projected Start Date: Week of September 11th, 2022

Projected End Date: Week of December 4th, 2022

 As a mentor, you will work with another college student to lead your program. The expectations of mentors are as follows:

• Be enthusiastic about your topic! You are not expected to be an expert about your topic but rather explore it with your students.

• Create a syllabus for your program (including any major projects or presentations that the students would complete and a general outline of the topics that you would like to cover).

• Communicate effectively. This includes prompt responses (within 12-24 hours) to messages from high school students and coordinators. 

• Compile program material in a way that supports creative engagement with the specified topic. 

• Stick with your group from the beginning of the semester until the program ends. The weekly time commitment is anywhere from 2-5 hours on average, so please only volunteer if you are confident that you will be able to continue mentoring throughout the semester.