Interim St. Mary’s County Superintendent of Schools Scott Smith

Leonardtown, MD — Mentors and leaders in St. Mary’s County Public School’s (SMCPS) after-school program were honored during a recent recognition ceremony at the Dr. James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center. January is National Mentoring Month.

The program is called FLOW Mentoring, which stands for Future Leaders of the World. Now in its seventh year, the program has served more than 270 young people in grades 4-14 by pairing them with a caring and responsible mentor. According to the program’s director Sara Tyson, there is a waiting list at some schools and more students can be served if there are more volunteer mentors.

Tyson said that students are chosen based on recommendations from teachers, school administrators and parents based on whether they feel the child would benefit from interaction with a mentor.  “Every school has kids who need mentor support,” she said at the recognition ceremony.

Tyson said mentors don’t have to have any special skills. “We are looking for people who have a desire to help kids,” she said. Mentors are interviewed by Tyson and then asked to take an hour-and-a-half training session. They need to set aside 90 minutes a week to mentor at their school. “They need to be committed and worthy of being a role model,” she added.

At the recognition ceremony, SMCPS Coordinator of After-School Programs Mark Smith said, “I had a mentor who made a difference in my life.” Smith added that his son recently had a mentor in a training program who also was helpful to him.
Addressing the mentors and leaders assembled, Smith said, “It is really an important role you take.”

Gina Lopez, a site leader at Mechanicsville Elementary School, said she was grateful to the school’s mentors every day. “Ninety minutes a week makes a difference,” she said

Lisa McCoy, a site leader at George Washington Carver E.S., told of her school’s community garden that a mentor had helped create. Many of the school’s students come from apartments and trailer parks and aren’t exposed at home to gardening. “Our students absolutely love playing in the dirt,” she said.

At the recognition many of the mentors and leaders cited have been with the program the entire time and some have moved from being a mentor to being leaders, who receive a small stipend for their time. High school students can also be mentors in addition to adults.

Interim Superintendent of Schools Scott Smith noted that the program started seven years ago through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and now is continued with grants from U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, state funds through the Local Management Board, private non-profit donations, and St. Mary’s County Public Schools.

The interim superintendent noted that the Gates Foundation embraced mentoring because they found positive results in the students involved, something that also has been found to be the case in St. Mary’s County, he said. Those benefits included greater peer acceptance, more positive attitude about the potential for success and better behavior in the classroom.

According to information on the SMCPS website www.smcps.org “The mission of the Future Leaders of the World (FLOW) Mentoring Program is to foster positive mentoring relationships between students in St. Mary’s County Public Schools and members of the community and to provide supported, safe, and inspiring environments in which these matches can cultivate the potential of each youth.”

According to the online information, “At the elementary level, FLOW Mentoring carefully matches students in grades 4-5 with caring and responsible community members. Mentors and their mentees meet at the student’s school one day a week for an hour and a half throughout the academic year. With the support of a school site leader, mentors and students participate in fun and meaningful activities to help build social, emotional, and academic skills.

At the middle and high school levels, FLOW Mentoring carefully selects students from each school who would most benefit from group mentoring. These students are matched in groups with teacher or staff mentors. Mentors and their students participate in strategic programming to help build social, emotional, academic, and practical skills. Each group mentoring program meets after school for one and a half hours every week throughout the academic year.”

“At the Fairlead Academy, FLOW mentoring also matches students one-on-one with members of the community. Mentors and mentees meet at the student’s school for approximately one hour each week throughout the academic year. With the support of the school’s mentor coordinator, mentors and mentees work together to build social, emotional, academic, and/or practical skills.”

Anyone interested in being a mentor can contact Tyson at 301-475-0242, ext 28128.

Contact Dick Myers at news@thebaynet.com