Mentorship Program Pairs Students for Support
New peer mentoring program created to better support underclassmen, student body at Pioneer.
By Hannah Dudum
New peer mentoring program created to better support underclassmen, student body at Pioneer.
By Hannah Dudum
The peer mentoring program was launched in October for upperclassmen to guide underclassmen through their first years of high school. The peer mentoring program is supposed to ease the transformation from middle school to high school, which is an especially stressful time in students’ lives.
Ashley Muraco, 12, teamed up with Wellness Center Advisor Amy Hernandez to create the peer mentoring program as a way to achieve her Girl Scout Gold Award. Both of them are hoping to utilize this program to make a positive difference on campus and in their community.
As someone with a personal connection to the issue, Muraco shared her reasoning on why she created this program.
“I remember feeling isolated my freshman year and I remember everything feeling like a big deal to me. Everything felt important and I think if I had some extra support and guidance, I would have felt a lot better and more comfortable in terms of school life,” said Muraco. “I’m hoping students get a sense that they are cared for on campus and there will be people who are ready and willing to help them. I want to create an environment that is more welcome and inclusive.”
Many upperclassmen felt similarly to Muraco and wanted to contribute to the program because of these exact reasons. She realized students wanted and needed something like this program, which inspired her to start this program.
Hernandez said she’s excited for this program, and wants to make the program feel personal and individualized not only for the mentees but also the mentors.
“I hope student mentors truly experience the blessings of mentoring others and seeing the impact they can have. I hope the ninth and 10th graders experience encouragement and support from their mentor and they feel like they have another person on their team helping them find success in school and life,” said Hernandez.
Mentoring may seem like a simple job but it is important to approach and handle every mentee’s needs differently as they are individuals who have different needs.
“We had several training sessions where Ashley and Mrs. Hernandez went over not only what to talk about with our mentees, but how to talk about it and connect with one another,” said Brenna Gallagher, 12.
With the program starting to progress and establish, Aly Rock, 11, noticed that peer mentoring also had. benefits to mentors.
“I feel like it’s a great way to open up and meet new people,” said Rock.
English teacher Stephanie Harvey described the program as a good way to get all classes to integrate more and form stronger bonds.
“I think sometimes we feel we have to stick with just the freshman or just the sophomores but I think this allows for different classes to integrate a little bit more and actually get to know each other,” said Harvey. “Hopefully that’ll build a better environment knowing that we can rely on upperclassmen to help us out.”
Harvey also mentioned how the program could help people relearn how to socialize after the quarantine.
"I think interpersonal skills would be a huge benefit of this program. Being able to communicate with someone, as I think the last 18 plus months of being at home hasn’t been helpful in terms of our socialization,” said Harvey.
Amal Shaheen, 11, said that the program has had a slow intake of mentees with around 20 sign ups.
“I think the reason is that many of the freshmen and sophomores are shy to sign up or maybe they’re not comfortable with the idea that you’ll have a mentor for the rest of the year. I think we did great by putting the word out. It was on the news video, in classrooms and on flyers around the school. We presented in many different freshman and sophomore classes,’’ said Shaheen.
Hernandez noted that seeing so many juniors and seniors wanting to help out the underclassmen after a year of hardships was encouraging and motivating.
“The heart of giving and helping always inspires me,” said Hernandez.
Ashley Muraco, 12, teamed up with Wellness Center Advisor Amy Hernandez to create the peer mentoring program as a way to achieve her Girl Scout Gold Award. Both of them are hoping to utilize this program to make a positive difference on campus and in their community.
As someone with a personal connection to the issue, Muraco shared her reasoning on why she created this program.
“I remember feeling isolated my freshman year and I remember everything feeling like a big deal to me. Everything felt important and I think if I had some extra support and guidance, I would have felt a lot better and more comfortable in terms of school life,” said Muraco. “I’m hoping students get a sense that they are cared for on campus and there will be people who are ready and willing to help them. I want to create an environment that is more welcome and inclusive.”
Many upperclassmen felt similarly to Muraco and wanted to contribute to the program because of these exact reasons. She realized students wanted and needed something like this program, which inspired her to start this program.
Hernandez said she’s excited for this program, and wants to make the program feel personal and individualized not only for the mentees but also the mentors.
“I hope student mentors truly experience the blessings of mentoring others and seeing the impact they can have. I hope the ninth and 10th graders experience encouragement and support from their mentor and they feel like they have another person on their team helping them find success in school and life,” said Hernandez.
Mentoring may seem like a simple job but it is important to approach and handle every mentee’s needs differently as they are individuals who have different needs.
“We had several training sessions where Ashley and Mrs. Hernandez went over not only what to talk about with our mentees, but how to talk about it and connect with one another,” said Brenna Gallagher, 12.
With the program starting to progress and establish, Aly Rock, 11, noticed that peer mentoring also had. benefits to mentors.
“I feel like it’s a great way to open up and meet new people,” said Rock.
English teacher Stephanie Harvey described the program as a good way to get all classes to integrate more and form stronger bonds.
“I think sometimes we feel we have to stick with just the freshman or just the sophomores but I think this allows for different classes to integrate a little bit more and actually get to know each other,” said Harvey. “Hopefully that’ll build a better environment knowing that we can rely on upperclassmen to help us out.”
Harvey also mentioned how the program could help people relearn how to socialize after the quarantine.
"I think interpersonal skills would be a huge benefit of this program. Being able to communicate with someone, as I think the last 18 plus months of being at home hasn’t been helpful in terms of our socialization,” said Harvey.
Amal Shaheen, 11, said that the program has had a slow intake of mentees with around 20 sign ups.
“I think the reason is that many of the freshmen and sophomores are shy to sign up or maybe they’re not comfortable with the idea that you’ll have a mentor for the rest of the year. I think we did great by putting the word out. It was on the news video, in classrooms and on flyers around the school. We presented in many different freshman and sophomore classes,’’ said Shaheen.
Hernandez noted that seeing so many juniors and seniors wanting to help out the underclassmen after a year of hardships was encouraging and motivating.
“The heart of giving and helping always inspires me,” said Hernandez.