The Student Government Association (SGA) and the Pleasantville Lab School are partnering in hopes of creating a mentoring program to link un­dergraduate students with the students of the Lab School.

The Pleasantville Lab School of Pace University launched on Sept. 9, with the help of the School of Education. The Lab school is a transition program for students ages 18 to 21 that at­tended Pleasantville High School or high schools in other regional districts. The students are housed on the Pleasantville campus to help with transitioning. Through internships, the Lab School helps students with vocational skills and focusing on living. Although it has only been open for the last two months, the program has continued to look for ways to ex­pand.

Michael Voron, who helped open the Lab School, presented the concept of a mentorship be­tween the students at a recent SGA meeting.

“The Lab School was a con­cept developed based on the need for appropriate educational expe­riences for students with cogni­tive and intellectual disabilities or Autism Spectrum Disorder,” Michael Voron said. “The Peer Mentoring concept was brought to me by the Student Govern­ment Association’s Executive Advisor, Shawn Livingston. He had mentioned to me that the SGA has been exploring ways to start a peer mentoring program and we both agreed that maybe utilizing the Lab School as a launch pad may be a good idea to bring forth.”

The Peer Mentoring concept hopes to create a link between undergraduate students and the students of the Lab School. Men­toring opportunities provided by the concept would allow students from both groups to become in­volved.

“I feel that all individuals should have opportunities to par­ticipate in any appropriate activi­ties in their communities,” Voron said. “Sometimes, the disability that someone has may prevent them from participating in an activity due to cognitive limita­tions and skills required, but, in my opinion, there should always be efforts and attempts made by all parties to facilitate the partici­pation in opportunities that are available in one’s community.”

Undergraduate students in­volved in the program would be continuing to follow the basic principles of Pace and would make the Lab School students feel like part of Pace.

“Our students of privileged circumstance need to be aware that because of their privilege (a private collegiate education) that they too have responsibilities. The Lab School is housed on our campus, is a partnership with other areas of our university and therefore within Student Gov­ernment we believe that it is in our mission and role to welcome them as such,” Associate Director of Student Development & Cam­pus Activities Shawn Livingston said. “In addition, service and civic engagement are core values of our educational philosophy at Pace and this is another great op­portunity for our students in their learning process.”

Currently there are several students volunteering and intern­ing for the program from various schools within Pace. The goal of the mentoring program is to increase the number of students involved and create a greater tie between the undergraduate stu­dents and the students of the Lab School.

Although many of the aspects of the mentoring program are still in the developmental stages, the program is continuously be­ing worked on, with SGA and The Lab School hoping to have it completed and up and running for the spring of 2014.