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A Mentor Model To Follow - Collaboration Between Schools
A video circulated through the District a couple weeks ago and when we asked Paul Spear (Athletic Director at Framingham High School) how this program came to be, he said we’d love the story. That was an understatement.
Mr. Spear was driving home from work one afternoon a couple years ago and ended up behind a Framingham Public School bus. Like many of us have experienced in the past, he noticed one child in the back of the bus acting a bit foolish. It was all fun and games until this child presented Mr. Spear with his middle finger. Had this happened to anyone else, this story would have a very different ending.
Mr. Spear documented the bus number, date, and time. He called the Transportation Department, confirmed the bus came from King Elementary School, reached out to Principal Taylor, and requested a meeting and an introduction to the child from the back of the bus.
Paul said his intentions were to go into that meeting firmly and sternly, ready to be tough on such a disrespectful young man. However, when the child walked into the room and stood about 3ft tall, Mr. Spear softened. The child remembered the situation from a day prior and actually admitted to doing something mean. At this moment, things changed.
Paul Spear (FHS Athletic Director), Kim Taylor (Principal, King Elementary School), and Lydia Jones (School Counselor, King Elementary School) sat down to figure out how they could help this child and others like him. Enter the FHS Athlete Mentoring Program. This partnership between FHS and King is two years old, so still in its infancy, and there is certainly room to grow. This is true within its existence at King, as well across other Elementary Schools in the District.
It’s a relatively small mentoring program which supports a maximum of 10 - 12 targeted Elementary School Students. The small program size ensures that program participation is strong and manageable. The High School student athletes were presented with the program and with Mr. Spear discussed the importance of the program and their commitment to showing up on a weekly basis, being responsible and willing to support their assigned student.
Ms. Jones facilitated the pairings (data and teacher nomination), managed the family communication, coordinated weekly after-school sessions, and ensured that the weekly sessions tied to curriculum and King Core Values through one-word topics. Each week the student mentees and mentors participated in an in-room activity presenting different scenarios followed by outdoor play (one-on-one free-play or structured team activities) - all of this is facilitated and overseen by Ms. Jones. One of the highlights of the experience is when the King Students were able to attend their Mentors’ sports games. It will be interesting to see if the relationships are maintained or progresses to any degree as contact information is shared between participants.
The response on both the Mentor and Mentee sides says a lot about the program. Each student is given the opportunity to build a relationship with someone special - but don’t take our word for it, watch the video for yourself!