After a mentee moved from a school: The Teen Mentor is amazing! On Wednesday, one of my students said, “Yeah! It’s Wednesday, M is coming!” All the student said, “YEAH!” Then they remember he wasn’t coming because his mentee moved and the students were so disappointed. He didn’t just make an impact of D, he did with all the students in my class. AMAZING!!
The Teen Mentor was able to follow him to the new school and…. “Just to let you know that M came Wednesday and when I walked him into D’s classroom—it was glorious! D’s little face absolutely lit up! He just sat and stared at M, as if it were an apparition. Then when I told him he had a visitor, he walked over to his teacher and asked if it was okay—I really think he just couldn’t believe it! Very cute!”
"This program has helped my son so much. He was struggling
emotionally at school because of some issues with peers. His
mentor gave him a reason to go to school and made a huge
positive impact on his self-esteem. As a parent I am beyond
thankful for this opportunity and the smile it put on my son's
face."
"A, when she knows ahead that her mentor is to come, has improved attendance. If having a mentor is getting her to come to school, this is a win-win situation. Her “track record” had been very poor."
"H really enjoys her time with Mrs. W. Since we started the program, H has taken more care with her appearance and seems happier."
"Mentoring was mainly for social interaction since my son is slightly autistic. I think it’s helped him come a little bit more out of his shell. D seemed to really look forward to his friend M’s visits. He even mentioned M by name on some occasions which was a big step for him since getting him to talk about his school day takes a little effort on our part and his. I would like to tell M thank you for making a difference in our son’s life. I think it made him feel like he could relate to someone and what it feels like to have a friend. Thank you so much."
"B is a quite shy. She has grown in her confidence and her expression and willingness to make comments. She converses easily (which is not typically her behavior) with her mentor. O has been an outstanding mentor noting B’s love of art bringing wonderful activities for B. B has made significant growth under O’s guidance."
"She loves her time with A. Their time was planned to have the least impact on work time for D. They have been doing activities that in some way support D’s vocabulary and reading. D has shown significant improvement in reading since working with A."
"G’s attitude has improved considerably! He is more engaged and excited about accomplishing and completing class assignments/labs. He still is not getting homework completed and turned in but class assignment improvement is huge!"
"Such a remarkable difference! I am so please A has made this most positive turn around. She is not a ‘victim' any longer and knows how to get what she wants by advocating for it rather than being the poor down-trodden little girl. She has more self-confidence and is truly enjoying life now. Thanks! This has been a huge life changing experience for A!"
"T loves having her mentor visit. Her mentor comes at a time when the students are allowed to make choices and T has loved playing games with her and telling her all about her classroom. This has been very confidence boosting for T."
"Last year I was unable to try out for the school team because of my grades, after working on setting goals with my mentor I was able to try out this year!"
"As a mentee was putting a letter in his backpack, there was a much battered shoebox wrapped in raggedy notebook paper. He looked up with absolutely
beaming eyes and said,
'This is a present for my mentor, D***, he is the best! And he comes tomorrow—I can’t wait!' Then he told me that they read together and then go outside
'even if there’s muddy puddles!' He said, 'He wrote on a paper D*** plus N*** equals AWESOME!' He was absolutely beaming the entire
time he talked about his mentor!! This is what it’s all about!"
***To protect
our mentors and mentees privacy, we have removed names and locations.
