Every mentor has their own style. Derrick Chrisinger's is to act as a guide to his scholar, Maishawn, by modeling behavior – showing Maishawn how he overcomes his own challenges as a young professional. Derrick came to PEAK having left his sunny California home for the windy city of Chicago for his first job as a Business System Analyst with Equity Residential. (Derrick now works as a Technical Business Analyst at Alliant Credit Union.) Realizing work alone wouldn’t be enough to bind him to his new home, Derrick sought out an avenue for investing in helping his fellow Chicagoans. After doing some research on a local Chicago community service website he found PEAK and became a mentor. Derrick

Katie Petersen describes her flourishing relationship with PEAK scholar Kailyn Adames as easy and natural, in part because both share a love for health and wellness. Like many PEAK mentors, Katie does a great job finding commonalities with her scholar, and using them to foster self-esteem and growth. But it was Kailyn, motivated by a recent episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, who chose a spin class at SoulCycle as their activity together over the holiday break. "We usually meet up to grab a bite to eat and spend the time talking for hours," said Katie. "So I was excited when Kailyn mentioned wanting to try this out!" Kailyn recalls feeling very "nervous" before the class. She was wor