New mentoring program designed to help middle-schoolers

About 100 students in Catawba County will have someone to help build their self-esteem and become positive role models this year, with a pilot program launching in three middle schools this fall.

Mentors will meet once a week at Grandview, Newton-Conover and River Bend middle schools, with students who are selected for the new Lunch Buddy program. The superintendents for each school system selected the school and grade level, said Lamar Mitchell, executive director for Champions of Education.

“Volunteers are needed now more than ever with budget cuts,” Mitchell said. “We want to have a manageable level of students and mentors with each school.”

Volunteers are still needed for the program. The mentors come to the school they select once a week on the day they select for 30 minutes to visit with a student they’re matched up with for the 2011-12 year.

“We hope the students will build a positive relationship and improve their self-esteem and self-worth,” said Chris Johnson, director of Young People of Integrity. “They’ll build a friendship that will help them accomplish goals, decrease absences and decrease office referrals — things that can cause them to fall through the cracks.”

Johnson knows firsthand how effective being a mentor to middle school students can be. He has worked with students at Grandview Middle for the past three years.

“I was with one person, and I’d go back and there’d be three or four. By the end of the year there were 12 students,” he said. “(Principal) Dr. Howerton said, ‘I wish we had a few more of you.’”

River Bend Middle Principal Donna Heavner said she’s excited her school was one of the ones chosen. With about 60 percent of the students at the school on free or reduced lunch, she said the higher poverty rate is one of the reasons the school was chosen, but it wasn’t the only one.

“We also have innovative programs, and this can build support for the Bunker Hill feeder area,” she said. “This will be another layer of support for the students.”

Heavner said the teachers are excited about having the Lunch Buddy program at the school.

“Teachers realize we need this for our kids,” she said. “We have to have a point person for the lunch buddies, in case a student is absent or a lunch buddy can’t make it. We had 13 teachers respond to be that contact person.”

The students recommended for the program may be the at-risk students, but they won’t necessarily be those students, Johnson said.

“Some may have parents with a busy schedule or three or four siblings and not enough time at home,” he said.

Heavner said some parents may ask for a mentor if they know their son needs a male role model.

The mentors are asked to attend a two-hour training session, where they will fill out a form that lists their hobbies and other information, Johnson said. The students will fill out a similar sheet, so they can be matched up with a student with similar interests. The mentor will go through a criminal background check. The student and their parents must sign a commitment form.

“It’s a team effort for the student, parent and mentor,” Heavner said. “We get to know the student so well. They need a positive person in their life, and they’ll see their grades improve, attitude and spirit improve, and see that high school is right around the corner and college is possible.”

There are currently about 80 volunteers, but more are needed. Johnson said there will be a contact person if the mentors need someone of their own to talk to if there’s a problem.

“It’s 30 minutes, once a week,” Johnson said. “We’re not asking a whole lot.”

There will be another information and orientation session on Tuesday, Sept. 6, at Newton-Conover Middle School, from 6 to 8 p.m.

“Middle school gets a bad rap, but I love them,” Heavner said. “They’re so dynamic and energetic and exciting. This is something our kids need and it’s very much worth the effort.”