“Ms. Adriana! I want to tell you about my mentor! You know what we did? We wrote a story together! All by ourselves. It is our OWN story!”, Elisa, one of our 2nd graders, exclaimed to me on my last visit to Kids Club.
I recently touched based with a mentor who was cleaning out her car and found a small pair of eye glasses. They had been there a while and she realized, “These belong to my mentee! How long has she gone without wearing her glasses?”. When she met with her mentee, Andrea, the following week she asked her, “Do you wear glasses?” To which Andrea responded, “Um, sometimes… But I don’t really have to.” “Well I found these glasses in my car and I think they belong to you.” “Yes” she said disappointingly.
“You know, I wear glasses all the time. I think you would look great in them. And they will help you see a lot better at school,” the mentor shared. Andrea, who was slightly embarrassed of wearing her glasses, was encouraged by their chat and since then this mentor has made it a point to wear her glasses more often when she sees Andrea. Andrea’s demeanor about wearing glasses is slowly changing and her mentor continues to encourage her that glasses aren’t bad but are actually very helpful.
Stories like these bring so much joy to me and fuel my motivation. Our mentors help prove to our students they are created for a purpose, are full of creativity, and are capable of good works – like writing their own short story. With this type of encouragement, who knows where our students will go!
If you are interested in making a difference as a mentor, contact me: adriana@casachirilagua.org.
– Adriana