Devon Carter teaching a course through the Recognize Education and Learning Mentorship Program, supported by the LeBron James Family Foundation. Credit: Courtesy of Devon Carter.
An Ohio State program intended to build confidence, develop life skills and manage stress among high school students has earned the support of the LeBron James Family Foundation.
The program, called Recognize Education and Learning Mentorship Program, or REAL, connects college students with high school students in the classroom to host workshops focusing on life skills and achieving goals. The LeBron James Family Foundation helped establish REAL and continues to support the program, Devon Carter, a psychology professor at Ohio State who leads the REAL mentorship program, said.?
“We want them to feel less stressed out,” Carter said. “We feel like the reason that a lot of these kids are stressed out is because they don’t feel like they have the tools to improve their situation.”
The program currently serves between 80 to 100 students across three Columbus high schools, including Beechcroft High School, Eastmoor Academy and East High School, with two additional schools to join in the future, Carter said.?
Every school has two mentors with additional students working on research projects, totaling 26 college students, Carter said.?
“These college students give them the tools to feel like they can get out of their environment or find a better life,” Carter said.?
Through research, REAL studies whether helping students with life skills can reduce stress and improve their overall health, Carter said.?
Jillian Hilwig, a third-year in psychology, began her mentorship in fall 2025. She said she is interested in child psychology and mentoring.?
“It’s something you can really see the outcome,” Hilwig said. “You’re working with these kids directly and you can see how they grow, change and learn.”
In spring 2026, Hilwig said that she mentored at East High School, leading workshops where she helped students establish goals and how to achieve them.
One lesson she taught focused on delayed gratification, which taught the students about how their choices can positively affect their long-term goals, Hilwig said.?
“I know I gave one girl a gratitude activity and she said it helped her throughout the week,” she said. “I had her try it for the week and she said that it was helpful to her.”
Some of the students she was mentoring wanted to go into career fields that require a college degree, but many had no experience planning for college or help with the application processes, Hilwig said.?
Students also become more comfortable participating in workshops as they develop relationships with their mentors, Hilwig said.?
“The kids get more comfortable, they enjoy coming there and they’re there to participate,” Hilwig said.?
Besides mentoring, the college students involved in REAL conduct research on the students’ well-being throughout the semester, Hilwig said.?
Hilwig said her research involved whether breathing exercises can reduce test anxiety among the students.?
The LeBron James Family Foundation helped establish REAL and continues to support the program, Carter said.?
The foundation? plans on expanding the program to 20 more universities across Ohio and nationwide in 2027, Carter said.?
“We feel like if we could increase self-efficacy in these kids, then their stress levels will go down,” Carter said. “They’ll be better, not only students, but humans for society.”
