Guiding students through conversation

“Youth can never have too many strong mentors in their lives,” Troy High School Principal and Superintendent Dr. Jacob Francom said in March of last year while Troy High School was planning on instituting an adult mentoring program for the high school seniors.

Starting this year, the adult mentor program took off at Troy High School. Once a month, the seniors meet one-on-one and up to three-on-one with their mentors in the library during lunchtime.

The program’s goals are to introduce the students to members of the community and give the students a mentor with a positive influence. Many of the mentors were specifically chosen to provide the students with a positive influence. The mentors include retired teachers, a pastor, business owners, school board members and retired Forest Service employees.

Just before lunchtime at the high school library on Monday, a groups of about 10 mentors gathered for their monthly meeting with their mentees.

As the students walked in, they were greeted by familiar smiles. Some of the students verbally expressed how excited they were to see their mentors again.

Soon conversations about school, sports and television shows filled the room. The mentors and mentees laughed and joked around together as they ate lunch.

“It’s surprising when students get in a one-on-one with a mentor, they open up a lot more,” Troy Intervention Coordinator Kody Hoffman told The Western News during the luncheon. “If this was a big group, they would be much quieter.”

Hoffman directs the adult mentorship program, reaching out to members of the community to come forward to become mentors earlier this year.

While the monthly conversations seen lighthearted and open, the small groups also talked about more serious subjects.

Before each meeting, Hoffman writes down talking points and passes them out to the mentors. The talking points start off light and introductory with questions such as “What’s new since the last time we had lunch together?” and “How was everyone’s Thanksgiving Day?” and the questions gradually approach more serious topics. On Tuesday, the theme was postsecondary education, so the group discussed majors, career choices, where they’re going to live and scholarships.

“Some of these kids don’t know how they’re going to pay for college, and some of the individual mentors had kids in college or they have been themselves,” Hoffman said.

Mentor Di Jonsen, a Troy businessperson, said she has really enjoyed talking to the her two mentees, both involved in basketball, since she was involved in sports in high school as well.

Some of the mentors are born-and-raised locals, and some, like Jonsen, are relatively new to the community.

“It’s good for the kids to see what they can be in the future,” Hoffman said.