May Term Mentoring

By Wright, Kristi

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Mentoring is a service learning opportunity where high school students assist in elementary classrooms during May Term.  The high school students appreciate the opportunity and learn a lot during their time in the elementary.  The following are a few final thoughts from a couple high school mentoring students:

“Some strengths that my teacher had were that she made the class and this experience so fun! She had a lot of fun with her students yet they were still learning. She lets the students have fun but she still gets things done. I enjoyed getting to spend these couple of weeks with these kids and this teacher!”

“Mrs. Van genuinely cares about her students. I feel like as time continues, that's not always as important to the newer teachers as it is the experienced ones. Elementary teachers leave a huge impact on the students that I don't think teachers always realize. I began breaking out of my own shell with Mrs. Van. I was always the super shy kid and look at me now. I am performing on stage and giving speeches. I don't think my parents ever thought I would be doing that. But Mrs. Van was the start of pushing me out of my shyness. At the time I might not have been too happy about it, but looking back, I couldn't thank her enough. She not only wants to teach her students reading and math, but she wants to try and teach them about themselves and how to live. She leads by example and has been doing so for years. I really have loved this experience, and I am so glad I got the opportunity to, even if it was only for a short time. I haven't had the desire to teach for many years, but this experience has reinforced my desire to help children. I have loved every minute of working with my kids.”