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Dornsife Center for Community Engagement

  1. Whitworth University
  2. Administration
  3. Dornsife Center for Community Engagement
  4. BELIEF

BELIEF Mentoring

As a part of LaunchNW’s Mpower Mentoring Initiative, the Dornsife Center for Community Engagement recruits strong, kind and committed Whitworth students of all class standings, genders and majors to serve as near-peer mentors to local high school students in structured meeting times throughout the academic year. Supervised by the BELIEF Mentoring Team, BELIEF Mentors are paired one-on-one or in small groups with local high school sophomores, juniors or seniors to invest in their development and promote higher education as a viable option for their future. 

Focus

Near-peer mentors are uniquely positioned to invest in students’ social and emotional learning; therefore, our program will focus on:

  • Relational development and the modeling of what a mentoring relationship can be, in hopes that each mentee will become a peer mentor in their senior year
  • Confidence building
  • Exploring individual strengths
  • Dreaming about the future
  • Goal setting and accountability
  • Having fun

Apply to be a BELIEF MentorBELIEF Parent Forms

2025-26 Program Details

Whitworth Campus Visits:
  • Oct. 24, 2025, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
  • Feb. 27, 2026, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
High School Partners:

BELIEF (Because Every Life is Empowering the Future) History

BELIEF was proposed in the fall of 2010 by four Whitworth University students to provide high school students in the Spokane community with college resources and the practical tools for making higher education an attainable goal. These students recognized a need within the education system: more readily available information and sustainable support around the transition from the K-12 system into higher education.

The BELIEF Team holds the conviction that an education is not complete unless you are willing to share it, and college students are in a unique position to advocate for future generations and their education.

The BELIEF Conference has grown steadily over the years. What began in 2012 with just 14 students from one high school became a three-day conference for 70 students from North Central High School, The Community School and Rogers High School in 2016. The conference took a one-year hiatus in 2017 but returned from 2018-20. The BELIEF Conference was the last major event held on Whitworth's campus before it closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With support from LaunchNW and as a member of the Mpower program, BELIEF returned to Whitworth’s campus in February 2025 for participants from Shadle Park High School, Mt. Spokane High School, Riverside High School and Deer Park High School. 

In the 2025-26 academic year, the BELIEF Conference transitioned to become a year-long mentoring program that included two high school student visits to Whitworth's campus, along with two-four Whitworth mentor visits to their mentees' high school.

Mpower

Mpower is a collaboration between over 20 different organizations: local school districts, nonprofit partners, universities and LaunchNW. The Mpower Mentoring Program connects students at 13 Spokane County high schools with mentors supporting their journey to post-high school education. K-12 students who participate in the Mpower program become eligible to receive a LaunchNW Promise Scholarship of up to $2,500 annually for up to four years, depending on their family’s income.