The pizza’s mozzarella melted onto his plate and a smile brightened his face as Gildardo Fonseca thought of a word to describe his student mentor, who was sitting next to him.
“When I think of my mentor, I think of cheese. He’s always cracking cheesy jokes,” Fonseca said, laughing and taking a bite of the dining hall pizza.
Fonseca just graduated high school, but he has been a Bruin for eight years as part of Mentorship Program at UCLA. The program, which is funded in part by Volunteers of America, pairs UCLA undergraduate students with children ages 7 to 17.
Ryan Shickman, a fourth-year psychobiology student, has been Fonseca’s mentor for the past two years.
“Since I’m the oldest and have a little sister and my parents to help take care of, there’s a lot of pressure on me,” Fonseca said. “(Shickman) is like the big brother I wish I had but never did.”
The two students spent time together every other week in Dickson Court on campus, often enjoying the breeze and telling each other jokes. But this spring, both Bruins say good-bye to the campus.
Mentorship Program at UCLA has been on campus since 2000. The majority of the youth in the program live in subsidized apartment complexes in North Hollywood, which is part of the San Fernando Valley.
The student-run organization offers youth support through obstacles they may face when pursuing higher education, said Teresa Pilon, a fourth-year economics and geography/environmental studies student and program director of Mentorship at UCLA.
Through the program, Fonseca received a $2,000 scholarship last month to help subsidize his college expenses.
Many of the mentor-mentee pairs, such as Shickman and Fonseca, continue their friendships outside the program.
“We connected relatively easily,” Shickman said. “But in visiting his neighborhood and hearing about his school and family, he helped broaden my understanding of what life is like in Los Angeles for people from different backgrounds.”
Fonseca, whose younger sister is also in the program, will be the first in his family to attend a post-secondary school. Both of his parents are immigrants from Mexico. His mother is a homemaker while his father works in construction.
Fonseca’s parents came to the United States to give their children opportunities to attend post-secondary school.
“I wanted (my kids) to get motivated to finish school and go beyond what anyone in our family has done,” said Maria Fonseca, Gildardo Fonseca’s mother.
Over his eight years in Mentorship at UCLA, Fonseca has been assigned to four different mentors, but he says his relationship with Shickman is unprecedented.
“He made me go out of my shell more because I’m shy. Since he talks to everyone, it kind of rubbed off on me,” Fonseca said.
In addition to Shickman’s dedication to spending time with Fonseca, he also tried to contribute to Mentorship Program at UCLA in other ways. Earlier this quarter, Shickman organized a fundraiser at his apartment and helped raise more than $400 for Mentorship Program at UCLA.
As part of the program, each mentor and mentee must meet four times a month – once every other Tuesday or Wednesday on the UCLA campus, once in North Hollywood and once on a Saturday for an off-site event.
The pair remembers a time they went to Six Flags Magic Mountain near Santa Clarita together, and Shickman encouraged Fonseca to face his fear of riding Goliath, the tallest roller coaster in the theme park.
“When we were done, he was mad at himself because he could have done it all these years before that,” Shickman said while they both laughed.
As part of their monthly field trip one month, the two attended a bonfire on Dockweiler State Beach and spent hours enjoying the ocean while eating s’mores and talking about Spiderman, Fonseca said.
Shickman said he thinks his most important task as a mentor was showing consistent support and being willing to have fun.
After graduation, Shickman plans to move back home to Davis, California, and work as a research assistant at the UC Davis Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute.
In the fall, Fonseca will attend the University of California, Santa Cruz. For now, he does not know what he wants to major in, but he said he is interested in studying the life sciences.
Shickman said he plans to visit Fonseca at UC Santa Cruz once he moves back to Davis.
The two plan to keep their bond strong and maybe grab a slice of pizza together.