At BUILD, our Business Team Coaches fill a mentor role and have been a huge support for our students over the years. A mentor is defined as a supportive adult who works with a young person to build a relationship by offering guidance, support, and encouragement to help the young person’s positive and healthy development over a period of time.  Not only do they build relationships with the students but they open up their professional networks so that students can start building their own networks along with the skills of an entrepreneurial mindset. Research shows that students who build relationships with caring, consistent adults set higher educational goals, have better school attendance, grow in essential interpersonal and emotional skills such as self-awareness and problem-solving, and are more likely to complete high school and succeed in college. Mentoring has been linked with a myriad of intellectual skills and development, including good decision-making skills, in depth knowledge of more than one culture, knowledge of both essential life skills and vocational skills, and rational habits of mind such as critical thinking and reasoning skills.