Being Present Matters: Mentoring Students to Success!
January is National Mentoring Month. It is the month when we recognize and promote the value of mentors who work with youth and others to affect positive changes in their lives. Communities In Schools of Brunswick County’s Action for Success Program works with students who attend Brunswick County Schools and need extra support to be successful both inside and outside of the classroom. We work to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. That is our mission and a vital component in the success of our program is the mutually respectful and trusting relationships we are able to build with students. These relationships not only include our Success Coaches who work at school sites every school day delivering targeted interventions to help students attain their goals, but also the community volunteers we recruit to serve as mentors for students.
Some students do not have optimal support at home, for a variety of reasons, and once they leave school at the end of the day they do not have someone waiting at home for them that provides emotional support and a listening ear. They can feel isolated and alone to deal with life’s challenges. Others may not have a strong peer group connection and can feel left out when others are confiding in one another and supporting each other through all that comes with being a student navigating growing up and figuring out the world around them. Our mentors help fill those voids by being present on a regular basis to meet with individual students at school either during lunch, or a club or elective period, to ask about how their day is going, listen to their hopes, fears, and dreams, share their own lessons learned in life, and let the student know that they are in their corner cheering them on and caring for them.
One such mentor is Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Sergeant Willie McRae IV. Sergeant McRae has worked in partnership with Bryan Mills, our Success Coach at South Brunswick Middle School, for the past several years implementing the Game Changers Club for middle school boys. Together, they mentor the boys and teach them character lessons, help them explore potential future careers, and teach them how to properly interact and build healthy relationships with peers, school staff, family, and community members. At the core of the interaction is the relationship between the mentor and mentee. It takes time, genuine caring, and dedication to build strong connections with students and Sergeant McRae has made that commitment and has been very successful! We thank him for partnering with Communities In Schools to help ensure local youth have all the supports they need to succeed in school and in life.
There are opportunities for community members to mentor students at each of the elementary and middle schools served by Communities in Schools. You only need to devote 1-4 hours monthly to become a mentor to a student in need. If you are interested in mentoring, please reach out to our Program Operations Officer, Mallory Wells, at mwells@cisbrunswick.org to begin making a difference in the life of a local child AND in your own life in the process!
