What if every fourth grader in your local elementary school had a dedicated mentor—someone who showed up just for them, once a month, to listen, teach, and simply be present?
That’s not a hypothetical—it’s the everyday reality for the students served by Academy 4, a Texas-based nonprofit that’s reshaping what volunteer-driven education can look like. With over 6,500 volunteers matched one-on-one with fourth graders across 60 Title I schools, Academy 4 has built one of the most scalable, heart-centered mentorship programs in the country.
But scaling that kind of impact doesn’t happen without a smart, strategic approach to training.
In the latest episode of the Training Impact Podcast, I sat down with Susan Demers, Manager of Learning and Development at Academy 4, to explore how they prepare thousands of diverse volunteers—from retirees to high schoolers—to step confidently into mentorship roles. And how a well-designed training program helps those volunteers become safe, trusted, and consistent role models for students who need them most.
👉 🎧 Listen to the Episode: Training Impact Podcast ft. Susan Demers
Academy 4’s mission is beautifully simple: Changing lives through relationships. But the logistics behind delivering that promise are anything but simple.
Every school year, the organization pairs every fourth grader in each partner school with a mentor. These volunteers meet with their students once a month for 90 minutes—30 minutes of structured leadership curriculum, followed by casual game time that deepens connection.
What makes this model truly remarkable is its focus on individual attention—no group mentoring here. Every child has their own mentor. That kind of scale and consistency requires a robust training engine behind the scenes. And that’s where Susan and her team shine.
Academy 4’s signature onboarding course, Academy 4 Basics, introduces volunteers to the organization’s values, outlines logistical expectations, and, most importantly, sets clear and firm child safety standards. It’s all delivered online through the LatitudeLearning LMS, which makes it accessible for a wide range of users—including volunteers who may not be tech-savvy.
In our conversation, Susan shares how the team uses Articulate Rise to build the course for mobile, tablet, and desktop. The format is easy to navigate and requires volunteers to acknowledge key policies—like not using cell phones during mentoring and adhering to designated facility rules—before completing their certification. All volunteers must complete the training annually, ensuring compliance and refreshers every year.
It’s not just efficient—it’s transformational.
As Susan explains, the training isn’t there to overwhelm. It’s there to empower. It prepares mentors to build trust, follow clear boundaries, and most of all—just show up for kids who need steady, caring adults in their lives.
The podcast offers an inspiring window into a nonprofit doing deeply impactful work. But if you want to see how Academy 4’s program really works behind the scenes—how they manage user access, assign courses, track completion, and plan for future improvements—we’ve put together a full-length case study that breaks it all down.
📄 Read the Case Study: How Academy 4 Scales Volunteer Training to Serve 6,500 Students
Whether you’re in education, nonprofit leadership, or extended enterprise training, this story is proof that great training isn’t just about instruction—it’s about transformation. It’s about designing learning experiences that scale with empathy and precision.
At LatitudeLearning, we love working with mission-driven organizations like Academy 4 because they remind us what’s possible when training meets purpose. This episode is a celebration of what happens when technology supports humanity, and when community involvement becomes a scalable, trainable skill.
🎧 Listen to the podcast.
📄 Explore the case study.
👥 Be inspired to build something meaningful.
Because learning has the power to change lives—one mentor, one student, one relationship at a time.
—
Jeff Walter
Host, Training Impact Podcast
Founder & CEO, LatitudeLearning
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