Eastern Pulaski Elementary School is hoping to bring a positive impact into students’ lives by pairing them up with community mentors. Principal Jill Collins reviewed the first year of the Community Mentorship Program with the school board last week. The program is based on the belief that “Every kid is one caring adult from a success story.”
Collins explained that 51 third, fourth, and fifth graders were matched with 21 adult leaders. As part of the program, students spent a few lunch periods a month with their mentor, often playing games or doing activities.
Mentor Sandy Lucas told board members that she’s spent years working with children at the Department of Child Services and in juvenile probation. She explained that kids that end up in those systems rarely have many positive people involved in their life. Another mentor, Rhonda Parcel, said she got as much out of the program as the students did.
Eastern Pulaski Superintendent Dan Foster has also been serving as a mentor. “It’s something out of the norm,” he told board members. “You know, I walk through, I try to talk to kids, but you don’t get to sit down for 20 or 30 minutes and talk with kids that often, without interrupting class. You don’t want to do that. It was a really neat experience.”
Principal Collins said she was pleased with the Community Mentorship Program’s first year and that she hopes to make it bigger and better for next year.
