Parallel
Parallel is a mentorship program for 5th-12th graders. We pair your students with high-achieving mentors from top colleges to help them develop the essential skills, mindset, and habits that school doesn't teach.
Mentorship to help students thrive
Parallel is a mentorship program that helps your student grow into a confident, capable version of themselves with someone they actually want to learn from.
What Mentors Help With
Academic Support
We’re not a tutoring service. Our mentors help students develop the academic habits and systems that lead to better performance across the board. That might be: building a weekly study schedule, learning how to study smarter (instead of longer), dealing with procrastination, or learning how to retain material throughout the year instead of cramming for tests. If a student is struggling, mentors help identify the root cause, create a clear plan, and follow up each week. Over time, students gain the tools to take charge of their learning.
Critical Life Skills
Strong communication, collaboration, and self-management are essential for success but rarely taught on school. Mentors help students strengthen these essential soft skills through real conversations, feedback, and reflection. Whether it’s learning to how to advocate for themselves, have difficult conversations, build stronger friendships, or follow through on commitments, students get the guidance and practice with the skills that matter in school, work, and life.
Personal Development
Even smart students can struggle with stress, self-doubt, or feeling stuck. Mentors help students build inner confidence using tools from our research-backed curriculum. This includes improving self-talk, building emotional awareness, managing stress, and bouncing back from setbacks. Each session gives students space to reflect, process, and grow. Over time, this develops the kind of internal belief system that leads to happier, more capable young adults.
Signature Project
The Signature Project helps students discover a genuine interest and turn it into a real-world project. While this process often results in standout college applications, the real value is in what students become along the way - life long learners that are curious and capable of following through. Through a guided exploration process, students try new things, reflect on what excites them, and eventually launch a self-directed project. That might be starting a podcast, organizing a fundraiser, designing an app, or building a business plan. Mentors act as thought partners, helping students choose a direction, set milestones, and follow through. The end result is something meaningful they’re proud to share and a deeper belief in what they’re capable of.
We train mentors in a research backed curriculum built around five core foundations
Our mentors are college students from top universities, who have demonstrated excellence and recently navigated similar challenges and triumphs. This unique approach ensures that our mentors serve as both relatable confidants and aspirational role models.
Trust and safety
Trust and safety are top priorities for us. Our mentors go through a rigorous, multi-step hiring process to ensure they meet our high standards of excellence and care. This includes thorough background checks, in-depth interviews, and ongoing training. We also take great care in matching your child with the right mentor and offer the flexibility to rematch if needed.
