Student Mentorship Program
By Stu McGrath, Ernest Manning High School
It has been an exciting year for the student mentorship program at Ernest Manning High School. As this was my first year being in charge of the program, I found it exhilarating, frightening and full of work. The mentorship program is unique to Ernest Manning. We match our students (Grades 10-12) with elementary students from Rosscarrock Elementary. The program has grown in the four years that it has been active, increasing from 6 students in the beginning to 31 students each semester of this year.
Mentorship is a course that is all about direct action. Rather than talking about ways in which to change the world, mentorship students get the chance to make an enormous difference every day they see their mentees. It is much more than a “reading-buddy” program, as our students are involved in every aspect of their mentees' school-life. There are plenty of opportunities for our mentors to be working on life skills as well as school skills with the children.
This course is based around taking resiliency theory and finding a practical way to implement it in our schools. Resiliency theory suggests that humans are inherently “resilient” to hardship and will “bounce back” given a few basic supports. This research has found that regardless of the apparent “severity” of risks that youth are exposed to, as long as they have a positive role model in their life on whom they can depend, then they will be likely to enjoy success in adulthood.
Our high school students embody this theory and dedicate tremendous amounts of effort, patience and skill in working with their mentees. However, this program is not only positive for the young mentees involved. Our mentors get the chance to experience hands-on learning through this course and get a chance to shine in a non-traditional setting. Students who may not be strong academically get the chance to showcase important skills that may otherwise go unseen in “regular” school. They also get the chance to develop a sense of community responsibility and leadership, as they are responsible for being a positive role model for a younger human being.
One very exciting accomplishment of the mentorship class this year was the creation of an informational video about the program. This program mixed footage of our mentors at work with interviews from an expert on resiliency, teachers and principals involved and of course, the students themselves. It is an incredible piece of work because it is largely based around the stories and the thoughts of the students themselves, and they get a chance to show a remarkably mature view of the course and their roles in it. This video will be used to educate other schools about the benefits of the mentorship program in the hopes of spreading it beyond Manning's walls. It has even garnered some international interest, as a school from Australia has already requested a copy.
We leave this year hopeful and excited for what next year will bring. It will be the first time that students who were mentored at Rosscarrock will be in grade ten and we will be looking to see how many follow through to continue in this program at Manning. Our numbers will look to rise again, and we will be doing everything in our power to include as many students in this course as possible.
