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The Alternative Pathways to Excellence (APEX) Program at the University of St. Thomas, funded by NSF as an S-STEM Track 2 project, aims to solidify transfer pathways, and assist Engineering students by providing financial, academic, and practical support. The successful integration of transfer students into engineering programs presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities for higher education institutions. The APEX program offers a spectrum of student support services, both structured and informal mentoring, curricular and co-curricular supports, and collaborative activities. The program is designed to forge accessible pathways into engineering careers for students with high academic potential, who are facing financial constraints by granting annual S-STEM scholarships to a select group of students. This paper describes a layered mentoring approach adopted by our team that encompasses both pre-application and post-application phases. We explore the pivotal roles played by peers, faculty members, and industry advisors in mentoring aspiring engineers through their educational journey. The paper describes the support structures and strategies implemented before students apply to engineering programs, shedding light on how early mentoring can influence students' preparedness and motivation to pursue engineering degrees. This paper also reports on the ongoing mentoring and support mechanisms vital for transfer students during their engineering studies. Peer mentoring, faculty mentoring, and industry advisor mentorship are all integral components of this stage. Furthermore, the paper discusses the training routines and strategies employed to prepare faculty, industry advisors, and peer mentors for their roles in supporting engineering students. This training ensures that mentors are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to guide students effectively, foster their academic growth, and nurture their professional aspirations. 

The Alternative Pathways to Excellence (APEX) program at the University of St. Thomas is an NSF funded S-STEM Track 2 project that seeks to strengthen efforts to recruit and retain STEM transfer students by integrating financial, academic, and practical supports. The APEX program provides student support services, formal and informal mentoring, curricular and co-curricular supports, and cohort building activities all formulated to create accessible pathways into engineering careers for a population of academically talented students with low income and high unmet financial need. The goals of this program are to increase recruitment by partnering with five regional community colleges, to award S-STEM scholarships of up to $10,000 annually to cohorts of 4-6 students each year, to increase retention by developing retention-friendly supports, and to graduate APEX scholars who go on to meaningfully contribute to fueling innovation in industry and/or academic post-graduate study. Generation of knowledge is based on studying the APEX program as a model and evaluating qualitative and quantitative data surrounding students’ successful transitions to a four-year institution. Program evaluation is focused on understanding how well APEX recruitment strategies contribute to increasing the number of low income and underrepresented students who transfer into the University of St. Thomas Engineering program and understanding the extent to which retention efforts are most beneficial to retaining students. In this work, we showcase initial program activities, and the initial results based on the first year of study and our first cohort of scholars.