Tia Andersen is an Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of South Carolina.  She holds a Doctorate in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University.  Her primary research agenda involves the interdisciplinary examination of service-learning, mentoring and other strengths-based approaches to positive youth development, delinquency prevention, and successful prisoner reentry.

Karen Hunter has a 30-year history working with at-risk youth. She spent eighteen years working with the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and has been working as a School Counselor with Lexington School District 2 for the past fourteen years.  She has also spent the last ten years working as an Arbitrator with the Lexington County Juvenile Arbitration Program.

Kaitlin Kirkley is a graduate student in the Criminology and Criminal Justice department at the University of South Carolina. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of South Carolina where she majored in Psychology with a double major of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Kaitlin has participated in the mentoring for two semesters, Spring 2021 and Spring 2023. Her research interests include mentoring and positive youth development.