Schools

Schools' Mentor Program Needs (More Than) A Few Good Men

With A Long Mentee Waiting List, Women Need Apply, Too

Less than an hour a week is the time commitment. But the potential impact on a child extends beyond what's measured by a clock.

“A mentor can change a student’s life,” said Sharon Schick, Groton Public Schools Mentor program steering committee member. "And the mentor, too, can be transformed."

First piloted in 1998, the Groton Public Schools Mentor Program is found in all the schools and includes mentors from nearly every walk of life.

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But as successful as the program itself is, the need for more mentors - especially men - is great. Schick said the mentee waiting list far exceeds the number of mentors on board or new trainees.

“Sometimes we are very successful (in recruiting),” Schick said. “We did train 15 mentors so far (this month), but we definitely need more men to be involved in our program.” Schick is community coordinator at West Side Middle School.

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Open to all grades -- kindergarten to 12th – each school in the district participates,” Schick said. She said the program has had “as many as 120 mentees matched with a mentor,” and in particular, last year, there were 75 matches.

Schick said the program “gives our students an opportunity to have another caring adult in their life.” 

Shynia Rock, 14 and a West Side Middle School eighth grader, has had a mentor for her entire school career. She was matched in first grade with a mentor who later had to leave the program due to health issues, but Rock said she and her former mentor stay in touch.  Since third grade, she’s been mentored by Bridget Holohan, a University of Connecticut-Avery Point Marine Sciences research assistant.   

“We have fun. We play games. It’s good. She’s like a parent. She loving, kind and respectful,” Rock said, stopping briefly to chat before her next class.

Rock said her mentor listens to her and is someone she trusts.

“She’s there for me,”  she said.

Schick said that’s the goal. 

“The mission… is to foster supportive relationships between adult volunteers and students for the purpose of enhancing self-esteem, personal growth and school success,” she said. 

For this eighth grade girl, it means having someone to talk to and confide in: “We talk. She cares,” Rock said. 

School-based, mentoring occurs only during the school day, on school property for 45 minutes to an hour each week, during the school year. New mentor training is done twice a year, but Schick said accommodations can be made for individualized new mentor training. She said mentors come from all corners of the community including police officers and firefighters, military personnel, area business people, teachers, parents, school administrators, other educators and retires. And it is with the last category that Schick talks about one mentor who made “a big impact for so many: an elderly retiree who mentored four different students, who, “sadly passed away.” 

 “He used to bring his phonograph in – kids had never seen, heard one – and he used to play records. He was great.” 

And she’s looking for more like him. 

“Children always need good role models in their lives,” she said, “and so many of our students can benefit from that support and friendship.”  

 Mentors undergo a background check, are fingerprinted, must be trained – and get a “nice dinner, too,” Schick said. 

For more information on becoming a mentor, contact Eric Benker at Groton Human Services, 2 Fort Hill Road, (860) 441-6780 or visit the GPS mentor program website which includes state and local mentoring history and information, a slide show and mentoring media coverage over the years as well as training information at http://www.groton.k12.ct.us/Page/476


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