Oak View Students, Teachers Delighted with their BHS Mentors

Halfway through a new mentoring program that features every-other-week visits to by students, school officials are already talking about extending the successful pilot project into next semester. 

“We wanted some young role models for our students,” said Oak View school psychologist Amber King, who oversees the program for 4^th and 5^th graders.

“Our NHS students are dedicated to serving our community in any way they can,” said NHS sponsor Andrea Heil. “Many of them aspire to work in education or in fields that assist students in need of supports, so this is real and applicable experience for them as well.”

For now, in an effort to keep things simple the first time around, the 3:15 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday visits mainly involve life skills games, crafts, social activities and, of course, snacks. Some of the mentoring takes place in a group and some of it is one-on-one or two-on-two.

“For whatever reason, some of our kids may not get as much attention as they would like at home,” King said. “We want to give them some positive attention.”

“We’re providing them with some extra support socially and emotionally,” said Oak View Assistant Principal Eugenia Harvatt. “It all works together because if they feel better about themselves, they’ll be able to learn more during the school day.”

Oak View Principal Bob Pinciak and his team are so delighted with the results thus far that extending the one-semester project is seriously under consideration with a possibility of expanding it to include some assistance with homework.

“Our NHS students have been involved in several long-standing relationships with our grade schools,” Heil said.  “They can see how helping younger students make positive decisions can have a big impact on our community in the future.”

“These kids really light up when their mentors come,” King said. “It’s amazing what working with these teenagers has done already.”