Elizabeth Olson, a sophomore at West Holt Public Schools, first came up with the idea to begin a mentorship program as she was searching for something to do for her FCCLA Students Taking Action with Recognition (STAR) Event project.
“It was in November,” Olson recalled. “Brittany Kunz actually gave me the idea. She saw that some kids needed help, and we thought they would benefit from having a person to bond with.”
Thus, the idea for the STAR Mentoring Program was born.
The STAR Mentoring Program pairs trusted and responsible high school students with one or more elementary student aged kindergarten through second grade.
The mentor and mentees are paired based on similar interests, with the hopes that the mentor will help their mentee develop critical social skills that can help them both presently and in the future.
Now, a mere three months after the idea was born, Olson’s program is set to begin with 16 high school mentors signed up to spend time with 39 mentees periodically throughout the remainder of the school year.
The mentors, who have each have gone through a screening process to become a mentor, will meet up with their assigned mentees approximately once every two weeks.
Because of the large number of mentees compared to mentors, the current mentors will be assigned to multiple kids that they will rotate their visits with until the program finds more mentors.
The visits will be approximately 20 minutes, where the mentors and their assigned mentees can visit, play games, or do virtually anything that helps the two grow a bond.
“The hope (for the program) is that it builds social skills in the elementary students,” Olson said. “We hope this will help them become better at socializing with their classmates and possibly even with people they meet later on in life.”
Now that Olson has a group of qualified mentors assigned to mentees, the program is set to begin, and the mentors will meet with their mentees for the first time on Wednesday, Feb. 5.
While the program is just getting started, Olson already has big hopes for both the near and distant future.
“I hope for this program to go on for as long as it can,” she said. “I plan on running it for the rest of my high school career, and then hopefully passing it along to someone else that will take care of it once I graduate.”
Although the program has officially already begun for the year, Olson is keeping the door open for any high schoolers who missed the memo and are hoping to become a mentor. At the time of press, there are no male mentors in the group and 23 less mentors than mentees.