We are entering our 3rd year of a program our counseling team calls "Big Cats, Little Cats". It is our in-house mentoring program. Most of our mentors are high school students and they mentor students between Kindergarten and 8th grade. It has been a great and successful program, but one of the downsides is that we don't have enough mentors to meet with all the students who have asked for a mentor each year. A program called Kid's Hope also provides adult mentors, but that is only up until 6th grade. Which means our middle school is usually very short of mentors, sometimes we have none! Between Kid's Hope ending and our middle school being a bit of a drive for high school students, we need to look for other options for mentors. That is where I hope you come in. I am looking for about 8 adult mentors for our middle school students, maybe more or less as student need arises. I already have about 3-4 adults paired up with a middle school student, but I know some students will ask as the year begins. I copy/pasted a letter we have used in the past when recruiting high school students. I thought it explained pretty well what you would be asked to do. But it basically boils down to our middle school students needing some homework help, but also needing just a positive adult role model outside of their family to play games with, chat with, learn about life with, and to spend time with. Unlike Big Brothers/Big Sisters, our program is totally in house and on-site....no weekends/weeknight activities outside of the school needed or wanted. Just about 30-45 minutes a week to visit with your Little Cat and see how things are going and help them where you can. If you have interest or think you can help, please call or email me and we can start the process of helping you become a mentor.
Carlisle Big Cats/ little cats
Mentoring program
Volunteers
must:
Ø Be able to commit 30
minutes- same day and time each week
Ø Be available for the
entire school year
Ø Provide assistance
with school work
Ø Be a positive role
model
Ø Be able to meet at
the Middle School during school hours
Volunteers
will mentor children to help them develop academically, socially, and
behaviorally. Studies show that spending
one-on-one time with a child greatly enhances his/her self-esteem,
relationships with others, avoidance of substance abuse, and academic
performance.
Volunteers
will have meeting with the building counselor at the beginning of each school
year and will be monitored on a consistent basis by the Carlisle School
Counseling Department.
If
you have additional questions, please contact:
Benjamin Barry, Counselor
Carlisle
Middle School
515-989-5413
Ben.barry@carlisle.k12.ia.us
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