Smart Society: Community Service and Empowerment Journal Volume 2, Issue 1, 19-25. e_ISSN: 2807-5757 https://www.journal.foundae.com/index.php/smartsoc/index Mentoring Activities as an Effort to Increase Students’ Interest and Motivation in Learning Arie Purwa Kusuma * Nurimani Deswita STKIP Kusuma Negara, Jakarta, Indonesia STKIP Kusuma Negara, Jakarta, Indonesia STKIP Kusuma Negara, Jakarta, Indonesia Nurina Kurniasari Rahmawati Rifa Atiyyah Chrisnaji Banindra Yudha STKIP Kusuma Negara, Jakarta, Indonesia STKIP Kusuma Negara, Jakarta, Indonesia STKIP Kusuma Negara, Jakarta, Indonesia Article Info Abstract Article history: Received: March 15, 2022 Revised: May 28, 2022 Accepted: June 15, 2022 Pusat Kegiatan Belajar Masyarakat (PKBM) is a non-formal education institution owned and managed by the community. This service aims to provide a fun mathematics learning method for students at the PKBM. Besides, this service also motivates students regarding the world of work and the world of campus that they will face after graduation. The method implemented in this mentoring activity was the approach and collaboration method. This service was carried out in PKBM N 17 Penjaringan for students currently taking education and their further education. After the activity, analysis and evaluation were carried out. It was found that the students improved their understanding of mathematics and motivation. This activity received a good response from PKBM students and is expected to continue to guide students in learning mathematics. Keywords: learning; mathematics; motivation; PKBM. To cite this article: Kusuma, A. P., Nurimani, N., Deswita, D., Rahmawati, N. K., Atiyyah, R., & Yudha, C. B. (2022). Mentoring activities as an effort to increase student's interest and motivation in learning. Smart Society: Community Service and Empowerment Journal, 2(1), 19-25. INTRODUCTION Education is a systematic process of creating a superior generation involving internal and external factors. Internal factors come from students, such as interest in learning, motivation, talent, and perception (both students' perceptions of subjects and teachers) (Angraini et al., 2016; Sardiyanah, 2018; Sari et al., 2017). Furthermore, external factors come from outside the students, such as the learning and family environment, family socioeconomic background, and parental attention in helping to overcome learning difficulties (Akman et al., 2016; Marlina & Solehun, 2021; Suarmawan et al., 2019). Pusat Kegiatan Belajar Masyarakat, or Community Learning Center (PKBM), is a non-formal education institution owned and managed by the community. The PKBM is regulated in the Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 23 of 2003 concerning the National Education System, in particular article 26. As a non-formal educational institution, PKBM helps students who have dropped out of school or have not had time to complete formal education (Herlyna et al., 2019; Irmawati et al., 2017). The causes of students dropping out of school, among others, are the family's economic expenses in supporting education (Rahmad et al., 2016), unable to socialize with the school environment (Dewi et al., 2014), low student achievement (Aji et al., 2021), unwillingness to go to * Corresponding author: Arie Purwa Kusuma, STKIP Kusuma Negara Jakarta, INDONESIA.  arie_pk@stkipkusumanegara.ac.id © 2022 The Author(s). Open Access. This article is under the CC BY SA license ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)