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Services-  Community based

                                 School Based

                           Progressive Youth 

 

  

  

Local Match Story By Jeri Brabetz

 

She wasn’t quite the typical kid coming into middle school. Her eyes were downcast as she walked down the hall. She held her notebook tightly to herself. She avoided other students.

I had been asked by her previous counselor to “keep an eye on her” so I called her down to my office to get acquainted. It took a few times, but she started to open up to me. I found out several things about this child. She stayed home a lot. Her playmates were the five and six year old kids in her neighborhood. She didn’t relate well to her peers. She didn’t like to ride the bus to school, so she walked or rode her bike no matter what the weather.

At Christmas, the school gave her family a food basket and she received clothes including a new winter coat, which she desperately needed. But this kid needed so much more than what we could provide here at school. When I heard about the mentoring program, her name was at the top of my list of students to receive a mentor.

 
Her mentor is a very wonderful young woman who shows up at school two to three times a week. She has checked on grades, helped with homework, but more importantly, she has given her time, energy and love to this child. As a result of her care and giving, this child has blossomed! I see her in the halls. Her head is held high, she is laughing and talking with friends her own age. This child glows with confidence!
I don’t want to dismiss the impact teachers and other caring adults have had on this child here at school, but we are limited in the amount of time we have with students. Her mentor has spent the time to develop a relationship and I feel if it were not for this relationship, this child would not have made the progress we have seen.

One mentor, one child, a very special relationship, and two lives forever changed.

 

Staff