Tanapag Elementary School counselor Shimiko Montgomery, who was yesterday’s speaker at the Saipan Rotary Club meeting at the Hyatt, said students who have emotional issues have low academic achievements.
“The youth needs caring and consistent relationships with adults to navigate their way through adolescence, but a lot of students come from single parent homes and could have a better chance of being successful and productive at school and at home with the support of the mentors,” Montgomery said.
School-based mentoring allows adult volunteers to help students.
“We are inviting volunteers to apply as mentors,” Montgomery said.
Fifteen students have been nominated for the program but they are still accepting more applicants, she added.
Montgomery said a survey shows that 40 percent of high school students feel so sad and hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row that they stopped doing their usual activities during the past 12 months.
The same survey indicated that 34 percent of middle school students admitted that they seriously considered attempting suicide in the past 12 months.
“Only 34 percent of the students were able to score at or above the 50 percentile on the nationwide SAT10 test, and the scores in the statewide Standards Based Assessment have been stagnant at around 40 percent for the past seven years,” Montgomery said.
Last year, she added, only 39 percent of the benchmarks were at or above standard in public schools.
Montgomery said volunteer mentors can help influence the students to build self-worth and demonstrate to them that someone cares.
“Mentors will be paired off with one student from the school and will help the student set and achieve goals, and become a friend and role model to the student,” she added.
The mentors and the students will meet for an hour during lunch on campus once every two weeks from January until June 2012. Montgomery will facilitate all meetings.
Mentors can select what grade level and what sort of students they will help, but they should stick with the program and be there for at least eight of the 10 sessions.
“Research has shown that mentors who leave their students before the program ends do more damage than good,” Montgomery said.
She said mentors cannot expect instant changes and results but positive outcomes can be seen gradually such as improvement in academic performance and quality of class work, increase in number of homework assignments turned in, reduction of disciplinary referrals, fighting and suspensions, reduction in skipping classes, increase in student’s positive attitude toward the school, increase in level of confidence and ability to express his or her feelings.
Montgomery said Tanapag Elementary School has 197 students from kindergarten to sixth grade, with nearly 80 percent eligible for free meals.
Applications for the mentoring program are due on Nov. 18.
To get application packets, email Montgomery at [email protected] or call 237-3177.
