Lake Houston Outreach strengthens community through student mentorship

Lake Houston Outreach—a volunteer-run nonprofit—aims to fill knowledge gaps for Humble ISD sophomores and inspire the next generation of leaders, Lake Houston Outreach President Beth Hancock said.

In a nutshell

While the organization was founded in 2019, nonprofit leaders said the organization really found its niche with the launch of its Youth Leadership Academy in September 2024. Through the program, roughly 50 volunteers mentor local teens.

“We wanted to train up the next generation of leaders so that they could contribute back to the Lake Houston community and it doesn’t end with us,” Hancock said.

Lake Houston Outreach helps students learn skills, including:

Managing budgetsCivic engagementNavigating career path/college selectionJob interview skillsLetter and essay writingApplying to jobs and collegesLake Houston Outreach officials decided to target high school sophomores because they felt it allowed enough time to help students before graduating, Chair and Treasurer Andrea Low said. Officials noted about 40% of the nonprofit’s participants are students who might not have support at home or are underserved.

“Once they’ve gone through our program, not only do they have the skills that they’ve learned, but they have a network in the community that they might not have had otherwise,” Low said.

Diving in deeper

Under the Youth Leadership Academy, students meet with their adult mentors about once per month at various locations across the community, Hancock said. The program takes about 40-50 hours to complete, and students must apply and interview for the program before being selected.

Lake Houston Outreach volunteers and students also give back to the community through off-site service projects, Hancock said. Last year, the students organized a trip to help a veterans community with its garden.

“[The students] give me so much hope. … They’re just really awesome humans,” said Megan Waldrop, Lake Houston Outreach’s executive director. “I feel like we as adults get just as much out of this as the kids do.”

Looking ahead

Looking ahead, the nonprofit hopes to grow the mentorship program beyond one school district, and also offer life skills classes to the general community, Waldrop said.

Getting program alumni involved in projects is another idea the organization hopes to build upon, Hancock said.

“It’s hard, being all volunteer-based, to do some of those things and get the logistics of those planned out, but yes, we definitely have plans to grow,” Waldrop said.