Josh Abebe is a sophomore at Lincoln High School, a fan of anime who hopes to become an artist.

He's passionate, driven, a strong Christian, as his college-aged mentor describes him.

Josh just needs help mapping out his future.

That's where Evin Lackore, a Nebraska Wesleyan University sophomore, comes in.

Lackore, a biology major and chemistry minor from Aurora, has become Josh's college mentor thanks to a new initiative that pairs Wesleyan students with at-risk, high-potential teens. 

Since Wesleyan launched the mentoring initiative this fall, Lackore and Josh and 23 other pairs of students have been meeting for one hour twice a month and keeping in touch regularly through texting, Facebook and other social networking tools.

During their sessions in the Lincoln High library, Lackore and Josh have talked about the future. They've talked about their shared faith. They've talked about Josh's trouble spots - like math - and set reachable goals, like the one that has Josh trying to study math for a half-hour each night.

And Josh has talked about college -- a goal that, if reached, would be more than enough reward for Lackore, who credits his parents and other mentor figures for his own success.

"I just get satisfaction out of being able to help someone else and share my God-given abilities," Lackore said. "That's very rewarding."

The mentoring program builds on work the University of Nebraska-Lincoln already has done through Upward Bound, a program that aims to guide more low-income, first-generation high school students to college.

UNL has enjoyed significant success with Upward Bound, said Angela McKinney-Williams, a Wesleyan associate professor of biology.

Wesleyan, too, has played a role: For two summers, the campus has hosted a two-week workshop during which Upward Bound students learn about science, math, technology, computer science, leadership and other key topics.

But Wesleyan faculty, beliving it's important to expose students to both a large public campus like UNL and a small, private, liberal arts campus like Wesleyan, wanted to take the program further, McKinney-Williams said.

So she and other faculty wrote up several grant proposals and secured about $30,000 to jump-start the mentoring program.

The program's goal: train Wesleyan students to coach promising high schoolers on picking a college major, applying for financial aid, managing their time, taking demanding classes and more.

"What we're doing is helping these kids achieve," McKinney-Williams said. "A lot of times they don't know what steps they have to take.

"It's really valuable that they have access to our students, who can guide them a little bit and answer their questions."

The program isn't a recruitment tool for Wesleyan, though admittedly the university would cherish new recruits and also would benefit from more diversity, McKinney-Williams said.

Rather, the mentor-mentee relationships are geared toward pushing students toward any college -- whether it's Wesleyan, UNL or another school.

"If the kids come to Wesleyan, that's wonderful," McKinney-Williams said. "If they go somewhere else, that's wonderful."

The mentoring program is directly tied to a list of educational goals recently unveiled by Gov. Dave Heineman and other state leaders, said Mike McDonald, an associate professor of education.

One of Heineman's goals, after all, is increasing Nebraska's college-going rate.

But the program benefits Wesleyan students as well as the Upward Bound students.

Many Wesleyan mentors are science majors hoping to become health care professionals, McDonald said. If they do, they'll be working with patients from a variety of cultural backgrounds - and they must be prepared.

With mentoring experience, they'll be just that, McDonald said.

"We don't want them to just take classes and go through school," he said. "We want them to be difference-makers."

McDonald said faculty members hope to secure more grant money to keep the program going in the long term.

Assuming it returns next year, Lackore already knows he'll be on board.

"I've had so many people in my life who have been willing to help me," he said. "I've really wanted to give back."

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.