Clone of refresh Youth Mentoring & Programs
The Harvard Ed Portal advances Harvard’s commitment to education by offering youth programs that enhance classroom learning and foster academic, professional, and personal growth. Through mentoring, clubs, arts immersion, High School Lab Pathways, and partnerships like Gardner Pilot Academy Field Gardens, students explore new and existing interests, build meaningful relationships, and develop skills and experiences that prepare them for college, careers, and life beyond high school.
Youth Clubs & Mentoring
Youth clubs & mentoring supports Harvard’s commitment to education through programs designed to support out-of-class learning. Each semester, approx. 25 Harvard College undergraduates work closely with Youth Programming Ed Portal staff to create and deliver one-on-one and small group academic enrichment for Allston -Brighton 1st through 8th graders.
Applications open for the fall in August - stay tuned! For more information about our offerings, learn more below.
Family Engagement Programming
The Harvard Ed Portal is committed to offering family engagement initiatives, events, and opportunities.
- Mind Matters: Families Make a Difference
- Family Game Night
- Wonderful Ones! Playgroup with Family Nurturing Center: The Harvard Ed Portal and Family Nurturing Center (FNC) are partnered up to offer toddler morning playgroups! The playgroups are engaging experience for caregivers and their children to interact and build skills through play and for families to connect with valuable resources. Playgroups are open to all families living in Allston-Brighton. Groups are all multilingual, and for children, and for children 12-24 months (younger siblings welcomed). Pre-registration required. For more information, please call, text, or email Elayne Baskin at Family Nurturing Center at 617-365-3941 or ebaskin@familynurturing.org.
- Every Tuesday from 10am-11:30am, now through June 23
- Visit the Family Nurturing Center website for more information
Summer Explorations - Open Now
Applications are currently closed - come back Spring 2027!
Summer Explorations provide Allston-Brighton students entering grades 1–8 this fall with in-person programming in small group settings.
Try something new:
- Explore Harvard’s hidden gems
- Sharpen your basketball skills
- Investigate the world of invertebrates…and more!
Who can join?
- Students entering grades 1–8 in Fall 2026 who are members of the Ed Portal.
- Membership is free for Allston-Brighton residents and families of the Gardner Pilot Academy.
Our Youth Mentoring programming pairs students in grades 1-8 with Harvard undergraduate mentors who design hands-on activities tailored to each child’s interests, so kids aren’t just doing worksheets but they’re building, creating, and bringing their learning to life.
Free programming this fall includes LEGO engineering clubs for grades 1-2 and weekly one-on-one or small group mentoring for grades 3-8, plus open drop-in homework support. Students from Allston-Brighton and Gardner Pilot Academy are welcome.
Please note: Mentoring, Clubs, and Drop-In Homework Support is a 10-week commitment. Students will meet on the same day and time with the same Harvard undergrad for the duration of the program.
LEGO: Junior Engineering Lab
Mondays and Tuesdays at 5PM
Using LEGO bricks, explore real-world concepts in physics, engineering, and architecture while building fun machines and structures. Create sturdy bridges, tall towers, simple vehicles, and moving models that roll, spin, and tilt. Students will experiment, test, and improve their designs as they build like real engineers.
1:1 & Small Groups
Monday-Thursdays, 4:30PM & 5:30PM
For 10 weeks, students will be paired either one-on-one or in small groups with a Harvard undergraduate(s), who will create hands-on activities tailored to explore individual interests, and serve as college-age role models.
Our undergraduate mentors encourage youth to develop strong self-identities as enthusiastic learners—by supporting creativity & curiosity, validating questions and instilling the skills to search for answers. This program is intended to dive deeper into a student's personal interest and to grow a curiosity for learning.
Drop-In Homework Support
Mondays-Thursdays 4:30PM-6:30PM
Students who would benefit from drop-in homework support in a specific subject will be placed in one-on-one or in small groups based on availability and overlapping content. If your student is offered a drop-in session, you or your student must bring information about what they need help with, course work or assignments to the first few sessions. What you bring to sessions will guide what your child works on.
Staff
