Mentee incentives can be used as a way to reengage your mentees and also to reinforce positive behavior. Effective incentives have a clear cause and effect relationship, are implemented consistently, and are easily tracked by both the Program Coordinator and the participants. Below is a list of mentee incentives that you can use as a starting point to create your own incentives for your program.

Mentee Incentive Ideas:

Mentee Awards

• End of year certificates which acknowledge mentees’ participation (class and/or events), level of engagement, improvement, leadership and initiative with the program and/or their mentor. Selling point is these awards can be included on resumes and college application letters.

Bulletin Boards

• These serve as a source of visual reminders for your students and they promote program visibility at your site. Bulletin boards can be used to “shout out” individual students or classes who are performing well in regards to class and/or event participation. They can also be used to share important program information or serve as reminders for students who may have items outstanding.

Progress Reports

• Presenting students with a chart of Canvas participation percentages by class and motivating students to engage in friendly competition to improve.
• Assigning Grades to Emails: Provide a clear rubric for assessing weekly Canvas activities —this should be done in consultation with the teacher/school. Students can then be issued reports at the end of each reporting period.  Reports can be broken down into lessons and events. They can also include notes or explanations for the students.

Rewards/Celebrations

• Individual gifts: For example, gift cards to students who have completed Canvas activities over a pre-determined period.
• Class prizes: For example, pizza parties or baked goods for the class with the highest class or event participation for a pre-determined period.

Motivational Tips

• Acknowledge students’ efforts in class
• Remember to thank students
• Tie in discussions or topics to things that are relevant to students
• Include students in goal-setting activities for the class (re: participation and behavior)
• Be enthusiastic
• Listening to music or surfing pre-approved websites after completing Canvas activities can also be used as incentives