DETROIT - Kenny Holmes wants to be an electrical engineer. But his dream of becoming one almost fell by the wayside when his mother could no longer afford his tuition at Benedictine High School two years ago.

"During my junior year at Benedictine, my mom couldn't work because she was suffering from a herniated disc in her back. So the tuition started to built up and I had a hard time paying it," Holmes said.

Holmes began doing custodial work after school and during the summer at Benedictine to help pay for his tuition.

But he found there wasn't enough time for studying to keep up his high grade point average and playing baseball, so his mother called the archdiocese to find out if there was help available.

"My mom was so adamant about keeping me in this school that she said she would have done anything to keep me here," Holmes recalled.

The archdiocesan Department of Education's Catholic Schools Office led Holmes to Student Mentor Partners, which helped pay his tuition until he graduated.

In addition to the tuition assistance, Holmes got a mentor who met regularly with him about his career choice.

Student Mentor Partners, a non- profit organization based in Harper Woods, matches students with volunteer mentors.

In Holmes's case, he was lined up last fall with Hank DeCaluwe, a retired electrical engineer from Daimler-Chrysler and a member of the Fighting Irish Retired Service Team from the Notre Dame Club of Detroit.

"Before I retired, I had been so busy with work and family, that I never had time for giving back to the community. Kenny and I talked about his interest in the technical field so I played off his excellent academic record in math and science. Through our meetings, I encouraged him to think about his career choices, including engineering," he recalled.

Student Mentor Partners was created in 1994 by a group of successful Detroit businessmen to provide disadvantaged Detroit area youth an opportunity to realize their dreams and develop their fill potential.

Its goal is to help at-risk youth from very low-income families achieve a quality high school education by providing the guidance of a mentor and tuition assistance. Its purpose is to foster hope and break the cycle of poverty and frustration that limits many youth in society today.

Calvin Shannon, president of non-profit board of Student Mentor Partners, and a financial planner, was instrumental in getting the program off the ground. "I had a client who had a tragedy in his life and wanted to leave a memorial for his wife. At the same time, I received a call from Sr. Regina (Marie Doelker, RSM), the principal at Mercy High School about helping a student with tuition," Shannon said.

With the memorial money, the group provided the student with tuition assistance.

Then Shannon's group heard about a mentor program in New York City, from which it modeled its current program.

Last year SMP had 32 students with 32 mentors.

It is expecting to have 55 students from 10 Catholic highs schools in metro Detroit, and hopefully get 55 mentors.

"A mentor is not a tutor. They talk to the student about life's experiences and about having perseverance," said Tim Hudson, executive director of Student Mentor Partners.

"We do our best to match mentors with the ten schools with which we partner. In order to have a good career, these kids need to go onto college.

"And the Catholic schools with their values and philosophy that the teachers have, these kids will be leaders in our community when they grow up," he added.

"So we are looking for mentors, as well as sponsors. It can be $I 00 gift. It can be a $3,000 gift. Our average tuition sponsorship is about $3,000 per student," he said.

This fall Holmes will attend Wayne State University because he has received a scholarship through WSU's College of Engineering Department. He currently works there in the maintenance department to save for expenses.

"It was great having Hank give me insight into engineering. He let him know what opportunities there was in the field and called different colleges for me to get information on their engineering programs. That helped me out a lo@" Holmes said.

"If you want to go to a private school and work hard, there's al- ways someone who can help you," he said.

The most rewarding part of being a mentor for DeCaluwe was when Holmes invited him to his high school graduation. "Even though I'm moving on to another student, I told him I'm there for him anytime he wants to talk about his education. I hoped I have steered him into something that will prove to be a very rewarding experience for him and life-long career," DeCaluwe said.

John Rashid, associate superintendent of Catholic Schools had food for thought.

"What if this program did not exist with Kenny's potential and he had to leave our Catholic school?" Rashid asked.

"If he had to leave Benedictine during his junior year, the whole Catholic experience would have been lost. The combination of a solid home life, his ability and a good Catholic school all comes to- get her to make a success story!"

To volunteer as a mentor or I contribute to the SMP scholarship, program, call (313) 886-9083