We have now helped 21 women of color to complete their dissertation and get their doctorate. This is indeed a milestone for SisterMentors. We now have perhaps more women of color doctorates than many universities have on their entire faculty!

Carolyn Veiga, Ph.D. and Laura Daughtery, Ph.D. are our two recent graduates. Carolyn received her doctorate in Education Leadership from the University of Maryland, College Park and Laura received her doctorate in Social Work from Catholic University.

People often ask what's SisterMentors' secret for success. Our response is that we are successful because we understand the power of community --- of reaching out and supporting each other. We understand the great benefits that come from helping each other because we know that, on a fundamental level, we are all interconnected and interdependent. If one of us fails, we all fail. We understand that our lives are not about some kind of radical individualism as often perpetuated by the American media. It's about forming community --- a community of women different in race, ethnicity, background, or culture but who see each other as sisters in the struggle to (re)establish education as important to our social, economic, spiritual and ethical well being.

But our secret does not just stop there. We are successful because we are also committed to mentoring and supporting girls of color in middle and high schools. We know that we cannot just be concerned about ourselves, but must also be concerned about the generations behind us. The sad truth is that girls of color, particularly Blacks and Latinas, are most at-risk for not obtaining a high school diploma. Giving back by mentoring girls is our way of serving our community.

The late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. urged all of us to be of service to others: "But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant…it means that everybody can be great because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve…You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love." Nearly all SisterMentors women say that their experience with mentoring girls in our program encourages them to do more volunteer work in the future.

SisterMentors women are uniquely qualified as role models for girls of color. Like Carolyn and Laura, many SisterMentors women have done years of research and writing on women, children and families of color. To our knowledge, we are the only women doctoral candidates who are organized to mentor and support girls so that they will be inspired to follow in our footsteps and pursue higher education.

I believe in the power of women of color role models for girls of color. My passion for learning and my pursuit of academic excellence was inspired in part by a woman of color I met when I was eight years old. I attended the first school in my village, Pepper Village, Fyzabad, Trinidad. One day the only woman representative in our government, that I was then aware of, came to visit our new school. When that woman walked into the school door I was struck with awe. There before me was a woman of color who was well-educated and well-dressed, and who also wielded a significant amount of power. More importantly, she looked like me. I wanted to be just like her. And the image of that woman has stayed with me all these years and helped galvanize me to academic success. This is the kind of role model and inspiration that SisterMentors women bring to our girls.

As we move into 2005, we at SisterMentors wish all of you who subscribe to our newsletter a year filled with a strong sense of community, connectedness, and service together with all the joy and happiness this brings.

In Sisterhood,