Improving Student Success Through Early Industry Mentorship.

Most required computer science curricula focus on the fundamental concepts of computer science (CS) and do not cover topics regarding professional development. So how do students know and learn why they should get internships, create an online professional presence in places like GitHub, or even craft a compelling resume? In this paper, we present preliminary findings from a pilot project to pair students in CS1 and CS2 classes with industry mentors to increase this awareness, internship placement and ultimately improve student success and graduation rates. We found a positive response from the mentees that participated. Feedback provided by the mentors indicate that a significant majority saw an increase in understanding of these issues after multiple sessions with their paired mentees.