Grapevine-Colleyville schools want to sign up a few good mentors.
District Superintendent Robin Ryan has issued a challenge to the community to sign up 150 new adult mentors by the end of January. Mentors build positive relationships with students on a one-on-one basis and provide tutoring, guidance and emotional support."Adult mentors can be the reason that a child soars to his or her highest potential," Ryan said.As of Monday, 79 applications for prospective mentors had been received by the district. That's more than halfway to the goal with more than half the month of December and all of January to go, said Sarah Bones, a student advocate with Big Brothers Big Sisters and a counselor at Cross Timbers Middle School.The challenge stems from a new partnership between the district and Big Brothers Big Sisters in which mentors partner with students from kindergarten through high school.The partnership is made possible through the efforts of Connecting Student Needs with Community Resources, a program recently adopted as a joint venture with the Grapevine-Colleyville Education Foundation. Current mentors encourage other adults to sign up to be mentors."I think I have gotten far more out of this than she does," said Michel Kolling of Grapevine in reference to Deaun Saxbe, a 12-year-old student at Cross Timbers.Mentors and their "Littles," as the students are called, work with each other for at least one hour a week during the student's physical education or music period."My primary focus is as an academic mentor," Kolling said of her relationship with Deaun. "It may be that you help them work through an issue they have at school, or maybe how to work with a certain group or how to bring up an issue to a teacher."Music is the key word in Deaun's vocabulary. She is a soloist with the school choir and would like to make a career with her voice.The seventh-grader said she eventually wants to attend the School of Performing Arts in New York, "the one that's really hard to get into."Deaun is enrolled in AP math and social studies and depends on Kolling for extra help."We've become closer and do fun stuff together, too," Deaun said. "For my birthday, I think she's going to take me out to lunch."Miracle Maxwell is also 12 and a seventh-grader at Cross Timbers.A soft-spoken girl, Miracle likes to run cross-country and play volleyball. She is a good student and just needs a little help with homework."I'm a boy mom, and this way I get to spend time with a sweet girl," said Michelle Rourke, Miracle's mentor and a school district employee. "She's on a hard schedule, so we work on homework, but we also do crafts and play games, do nails and just talk.""She's my friend," Miracle said as the two worked on a gingerbread house ornament in the school library and talked.Children of all ages, academic levels and socioeconomic groups benefit from an adult friend to help with schoolwork and provide guidance, educators say. Many parents struggle with job responsibilities and single parenthood."Last year, we did a needs assessment, and the biggest thing we found was we needed mentors on our campuses," said Marina Flores, the district's director of student engagement. "Not for just the economically disadvantaged, but for all children. We needed mentors."Susie Cook, a veteran mentor with the district, advised would-be volunteers not to be intimidated by the more complex process required to apply now that the program is connected with Big Brothers Big Sisters.The most critical need is for male mentors, according to Big Brothers Big Sisters."Our waiting list is half and half girls and boys," Bones said. "But it takes a long time for the boys to be paired with men, so we really need men to volunteer."Interested people may go to the district's website, www.gcisd-k12.org, to submit an application. The deadline is Jan. 31.Shirley Jinkins, 817-390-7657Twitter: @shirljinkinsHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
