InRegister interview: Fellows Ivory Gipson, Alexis Rogers talk the magic of mentorship
It’s truly a team effort to take Fellows to the next level.
BRYC mentor and chief of programs Allie Diefendorf (left) works with Fellows like Angie JeanBaptiste (right) on homework, standardized test prep, college applications, or any other issue students might face on their journey to college.
When newly minted Yale graduate Lucas Spielfogel arrived in Baton Rouge in 2010, he didn’t know that the city by the bayou would become his permanent home. Maybe he would stay for a couple of years, he thought, for the duration of his tenure with Teach for America. Instead, his passion for helping low-income students in the community surged. By age 24, he had taken on the mantle of executive director for the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition, a nonprofit that has guided local students into successful colleges and careers since its founding by Belaire High School teachers Dan Kahn and Sam Joel in 2009.
“It just felt like a place where I could plant roots, and that’s exactly what happened, both personally and professionally,” says Spielfogel.
