Main Street Magazine: Wildcat Youth MentorsLifeWise Community Press Releases: March, 2006
Author: David Rawding, Main Street Magazine |
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Are you looking for a student organization that’s right for you? Want to have an outstanding addition to your resume? Or are you a motivated UNH student looking for an opportunity to volunteer and give back to your community? If so, then the Wildcat Youth Mentors (WYM) program is for you. WYM was created in the fall of 2003 as a collegiate student mentor program that gives UNH students the chance to become role models for young people in surrounding area schools. Barrington Middle School was the first school in 2003 to enroll the initial 17 Wildcat Youth Mentors. Now, three years later there are seven different schools accepting Wildcat Youth Mentors including: Newmarket Junior High, Epping High School, and Oyster River Middle School. LifeWise Community Projects Inc, a private non-profit organization, supports the WYM program which currently enrolls 51 active mentors. WYM exclusively utilizes UNH students as mentors because of their respective academic and leadership prestige that they project to local community schools. The WYM program is managed by LifeWise CEO Bruce A. Montville EE, and Volunteer Administrator K.C. Walsh. Together they link mentors to the local schools where they mentor students ages 11-17.
The time commitment for mentors is very minimal. An individual mentor is obligated to meet with his or her mentee for one hour a week during the UNH semester. This one hour a week can allow a mentor to connect to a young student who is usually overjoyed at having a college aged friend. According to CEO Bruce A. Montville EE, “Guidance administrators from the host schools report positive mentee attitude changes. Also calming effects appear to result from the consistent school-based, 1 hour per week 1-on-1 relationships.” Furthermore Bruce has received reports from school administrators that, “the mentees develop a sense of trust with their young adult mentors. Mentees are given "a voice" they have not had before.” Having a positive attitude as well as self-confidence helps a young mentee become more independent as an individual and more productive as a student. The National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC), which works to increase youth graduation rates and further academics in the US, thoroughly supports youth mentors. One of the NDPC’s core strategies suggests mentoring as “a one-to-one caring, supportive relationship between a mentor and a mentee that is based on trust.” Youth mentors should be nonjudgmental adults who display characteristics of a good role model. Having a mentor can boost the self-esteem of a teen that may lack a strong support system. Bruce A. Montville EE explained his experience with UNH mentors: “We've found that UNH students who thrive on achievement and have worked with youth in the past are the most likely to be very good. Attitudes of commitment, compassion, and reliability seem to come naturally to them.” Molly Peery, a current UNH student and former Wildcat Youth Mentor, described her relationship with her mentee as “dynamic.” She explained how, “my mentee and I were constantly learning from one another and it was great to leave the stressful college environment knowing that I was able to help my mentee by just simply being there – the power of presence was interactive.” Bruce A. Montville EE is very optimistic about the future success of the program. He proudly declares, “Our members deserve all the credit as they are the ones that deliver the mentoring, which is so valued. Membership in Wildcat Youth Mentors has become a badge of honor on the UNH campus.” As to the future Bruce says, “The LifeWise vision for WYM is continued application of this important dropout prevention program, mixed with constant recruiting, background checks, and training to replace those that graduate from UNH. Statistics tell us that 50% of all teens need mentoring, so I don't see us running out of customers in the near future” For more information on Wildcat Youth Mentors, contact Bruce A. Montville EE at LifeWise Community Projects in Barrington at 929-0832. |
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Bruce A. Montville EE
President & CEO
President & CEO