Being the first in your family to go to college requires determination. Chris Mitchell demonstrated that when, as a high school senior, he researched and applied to some 30 colleges and for countless scholarships. Ultimately, he chose University of Richmond for its top-tier ranking and its generous financial aid. He will graduate without having to take out student loans.

Now Mitchell, a senior in leadership studies, is paying it forward. He shares his knowledge about preparing for, applying to, and experiencing college with Latinx high school students participating in a nonprofit college-access program.  

“I learned about the Scholars Latino Initiative my freshman year, when I took Leadership 101 with Dr. Peter Kaufman, who founded SLI,” Mitchell said. “I wanted to be involved with community on and off campus, so I started volunteering as a SLI mentor at the beginning of my sophomore year.” This year he served as president of both the Richmond SLI chapter and the University’s Black Student Alliance.

SLI pairs college mentors with Latinx high school students of a parallel grade level, with the goal of maintaining the mentoring relationship throughout their respective college and high school years. Mitchell meets regularly with two SLI participants who are considering community college and a career in the Marines.

“I help them think not only about college, scholarships, and career paths, but also about healthy lifestyles and personal finance,” Mitchell said. “Sometimes I make my favorite dish, creamy Tuscan chicken pasta, and have them over for dinner at my campus apartment. It’s rewarding to be able to give them the kind of advice I wish I had received.”

Even as he helps others think about their futures, the senior from Henrico County thinks about his own. As a high school student, he considered an engineering career, but now has settled on law.

“If there’s one thing I like more than solving math equations, it’s arguing,” he said with an easy-going laugh. “Leadership studies classes, like my Critical Thinking class with Dr. Terry Price, taught me the basic structure of argumentation, persuasion, and productive resolution.”

He received a Gilman Scholarship to attend Jepson at Cambridge, the Jepson School of Leadership Studies' study-abroad program at the University of Cambridge, in summer 2023. There he took classes in comparative U.K.-U.S. law and international law.

“It was my first time outside the U.S. and one of my top experiences at college,” Mitchell said. “I never anticipated doing something like that. Being in such a historic institution felt inspiring, and it was great to be in another country and meet people from around the world.”

As he prepares for graduation next month, he is applying for paralegal positions. He plans to work for a year or two before heading to law school.

In the meantime, he’ll be helping others articulate their plans.

“The most rewarding part of my work with SLI has been helping high school students figure out what they want to do.”