Welcome to the Peer Mentoring Forum!
Welcome to this forum on peer mentoring! I am a big fan of peer mentoring (or cross-age mentoring, as it's oftern called) because it has such a strong youth development foundation, and because it can have so many positive outcomes for both mentor and mentee. So as the official "host" of this forum I'm looking forward to hearing from you about how you are implementing this model in your schools and communities. This is a place where we can share resources, offer ideas and advice, ask questions, and have lively discussions about peer mentoring approaches.
One resource I just have to mention here in case anyone missed it when we released it, is the MRC's own introductory guide to peer mentoring. This was prepared in conjunction with a web seminar on peer mentoring that Tina Christenson of BBBN of Rochester did for the MRC last summer. You can access both the guide and the web seminar at this link: http://www.edmentoring.org/seminar7.html.
Please remember, before you get started with posting to this forum, to review the "Forum FAQs" and the "Forum Guidelines" that can be found by clicking the tabs at the top of the page. If you have questions about how to use the forums, please contact me directly at my email address (below) or send me a private message at this link:
http://mentoringforums.nwrel.org/messages/new/12?destination=user%2F12
Once again, welcome, and enjoy!
Thanks for the information about your program, Carlo. I was recently at the YouthFriends conference in Kansas City and met a number of people who are invested in peer mentoring in their schools. One of the topics that came up in our discussion was how to keep peer mentors motivated and engaged in the program. Some program seem to struggle with their mentors losing interest. I'd be curious to see if you or others out there have any ideas on this. Maybe we can start a new thread here on mentor motivation!
Hello, I am also looking forward to any suggestions as to how to motivate the jr/sr high mentors into successfully completing their one-to-one match until the end of the year. My program begins in late October and continues until end of April. In May we go on a couple big field trips. I lose a lot of students to track, baseball, summer basketball, and girls fastpitch. I have incorporated a Mentor Buddy system where a jr./sr. high mentor can bring a friend on board with them (he/she goes through application process as well and has to be accepted) but most of the kids never come on board with a substitute readily available. I know I cannot go to all of these coaches and request their players to miss practices and games but I need help with the Mentor Buddy concept and sustaining the mentors I have until the end of the year.
Thanks for your help.
I look forward to the peer mentoring discussions.
Here at YESS Institute we are very passionate about it.
Our programs with high school jr/sr as mentors for truant freshmen have been very successful. In the last three years, we have built a track record in which we were able to keep +50% non-attending students in school, increase GPA by 1.5 to 2.5. Students attend between 85-90%. About 60% of mentees become mentors. The model is a twice a week afterschool program with focus on academics and YESS social-emotional curriculum (emosmart leadershipTM) through structured, supervised "guided conversations" between the mentor/mentee.
Our programs run in Denver Public Schools and the population we serve is primarily Latino in 98% TANF schools.
We are striving to strengthen our program to expand it. We look forward to learning from others to better serve our Denver students.
Carlo Kriekels
co-founder
www.yessinstitute.org
Carlo Kriekels
Co-founder & Executive Director
YESS Institute
www.yessinstitute.org