The Sister-2-Sister mentoring program started its semester meeting on Sept. 25.

The Sister-2-Sister program was created by Dr. Collette Harris-Mathews when she realized that there was a need for students to be mentored at Cosumnes River College.

“I had students coming up to me asking me to help them and to have me mentor them so they could have success [in school],” said Harris-Mathews who teaches communication studies.

As a student, school and life can be hard to deal with alone. The Sister-2-Sister program aims to help students at CRC succeed. The mentoring program has been active since Fall 2011 and there have been more than 100 students who have been through the program, according to Harris-Mathews.

The Sister-2-Sister program has four pillars that define the program and were created by the students. All women who wish to participate in the program must want to listen, inspire, engage and have a desire to be educated.

“The program is defined by students because it is led by student,” Harris-Mathews said.

Mathews said that the program caters to African American students, but it is open to all female students of different ethnicities that attend CRC.

Students at CRC have a positive outlook on mentoring programs that are catered to women.

“I think it’s good for people to get support,” said Rash Smith, a 22-year-old English major. “You can get different perspectives and new experiences.”

Though the students on campus believe that the program would be good, some student think that males’ participation will benefit the program.

“In society, there is a male dominance,” said Rahela Zareen a 26-year-old accounting major. “If males were there, it would help them understand women.”

Other students on campus believe that the program would be a good thing, such as Regina Dozier a 19-year-old human services major.

“I think it would be a good turnout, there are a lot of things for males and not many for girls,” Dozier said.

“We try to create leaders,” Harris-Mathews said.

She went on to describe a few success stories that have students have achieved by participating in the  mentoring program.

“We had a student graduate from University of California Berkeley and one student recently transferred to California State University Sacramento,” Harris-Mathews said.

Not only does this program promote self-success, it also focuses on the community.

“We do service learning,”Harris-Mathews said. “We participated in the Martin Luther King March and the breast cancer walk. We are also involved with Girl Inspired; a Conference in University of California Davis.”

The next meeting for Sister-2-Sister mentoring program in on Oct. 23 in room M200.

Their topic of discussion is titled Beyond Ferguson. The topic is there to help promote discussion about what happened in Missouri and how that affects students at a community college level.