Guanajuato, Gto., December 5, 2017.- Because of a more than two-years career, which has generated an important impact in the social and educational development of children in the basic level, the student program "Mentores UG" obtained the 2017 UVM National Award for Social Development.

The program "Mentores UG" was evaluated for three months by the Internal Youth Foundation, Laureate International Universities and the Universidad del Valle de México; the alliance among these three institutions annually grants this award to the best fifteen projects in the country that are led by young students that influence their communities and the environment.

In an interview, Alejandro Domínguez of the Law Degree of the University of Guanajuato (UG) who belongs to the Direction of Liaison of Mentors, said that, for those who are "Mentores UG", this award represents the recognition for their work in a national and international scale.

He added that it also represents the commitment to continue working in the areas of opportunity that were detected during the evaluation process, which, he said, "lets us know we are doing good by involving in a country's problem and address this demand."

Regina Mercado Calderón, a student of the Law degree at UG and Director of Liaison of Mentors, said that this program emerged as an organized group to respond to the educational issues in the country, specifically of the elementary students in Guanajuato city.

She affirmed that part of the goals for "Mentores UG" is to expand to all the state and the country to generate a comprehensive formation in basic education; promoting the strengthening of the educational demand through actions that contribute in diminishing school desertion and make children find their motivation to study college.

It is worthy to mention that this project focuses on three main lines which are the program's phases; first is the lack of role models, meaning, they seek to approach elementary school children to college students so the latter, explain, from their life experiences, the problems they faced and how every day they achieve their goals as college students.

Another line is the lack of early detection of talent; Regina Mercado assures that it is proven that the most time they spent without discovering the talent of the child, this diminishes because they lack support, this is why we seek to detect their talent to efficiently encourage it; and finally, the third line is the lack of financing, in which they seek the liaison with institutions and associations to finance the development of the children.

The "Mentores" program is formed by people who are sponsors, and more than 250 students from different degrees offered by Campus Guanajuato and the Division of Life Sciences of Campus Irapuato-Salamanca of UG.

Each semester, more than 100 children from fourth to sixth grade of nine public schools in the city of Guanajuato and the community El Copal, are benefited. The mentors work with them for five weeks in workshops with different topics such as: The week of art and culture, mathematics, environment and earth sciences, science and technology, and humanities.

With these activities and the support of the mentors, proactive changes are achieved in the children who enter the program, from knowing their talents until they define a life goal.

Finally, Alejandro Domínguez said that within the program, they also develop other activities such as the "Social Innovation Panel. Understanding the True Volunteer", that will be developed within the Day of the Volunteer, in the Former Jesuit Yard, next Friday December 8 at 16:00hrs.

This event has the purpose to renew the vision of the volunteer recognizing it as an essential actor for the social development through citizen actions. Everyone who is interested, may participate for free.

They will have the presence of Sarape Social, a business that makes awareness campaigns, sensitizes, inform, promote values, and communicate and encourage projects and initiatives of businesses and governments. From the state of Mexico, the social business Liks, who offer the best educational experiences through travels, camps and engineering and technology workshops for children ages 6-15, through the STEAM teaching technique, will share their vision and trajectory in the subject.