School district boasts 400-mentor program

Growing up isn't easy. Peer pressure, tragedy and wrong decisions either bend or break young kids.

McKinney ISD is determined to make sure the former happens, shaping its students toward success instead of failure, and this month is a beacon of that mission.

As part of the presidentially declared "National Mentor Month," the district's REACH program held a seminar Tuesday at the administration building in McKinney. The message: all that some kids need is a little guidance.

They need someone who's been where they are, who went through downs to eventually rise up. And with more than 400 mentors who fit the bid, McKinney ISD seems to have what's needed.

"We've got an extremely dedicated community in helping the youth," said Dr. J.D. Kennedy, McKinney ISD superintendent. "I don't know if there's any district our size, anywhere in the country, that has that many mentors. It's pretty phenomenal."

Through McKinney ISD Partners in Education, the district started the school-based mentoring program in 2006 to foster in students high self-esteem, self-confidence and a motivation for improvement.

With mentors -- faculty, administrators and community members -- guiding students at one early childhood center, 19 elementary schools, five middle schools and three high schools, the program is fulfilling its mission to "reach one child at a time."

Dozens of mentors filled the school board meeting room for Tuesday's seminar, which further educated them on the mentoring opportunities within the district. Partners in Education coordinator Nancy Cowlishaw, whom Kennedy credited with pairing the right mentors with at-risk students throughout McKinney ISD, told attendees what many in the room now realize: mentors matter.

"Mentoring is a powerful way to connect children to adults," Cowlishaw said. "Our mentors inspire, influence and motivate people to excel."

She told them about Laura Kaeppeler of Kenosha, Wisc., crowned Miss America 2012 on Saturday in Las Vegas. Kaeppeler's father spent 18 months in jail for mail fraud while she was graduating high school and beginning college, so her pageant platform was mentoring children whose parents are behind bars.

A mentor is sometimes their only example.

"She spoke about that openly...how mentors helped get her to where she is today, keeping that positive in her life," Cowlishaw said of Kaeppeler. "It was very powerful, so I think (mentoring) is a pretty incredible thing."

Among the listeners Tuesday was Michael Johnson, a McKinney State Farm insurance agent who joined REACH about three months ago.

Johnson grew up in "the hood" on the South Side of Chicago, he said, before living in Houston and eventually playing football at Baylor University. He grew up in Chicago with his grandmother and had mentors all his life.

"I always try to tell them my story before I really jump into their life," Johnson said. "The first thing that mentors have to do is earn trust and respect; if they can trust you, they'll build some respect, and if they respect you, they'll listen to you.

"If they listen to you, that's when you can move them."

Most REACH mentors are assigned to individual students, but Johnson's affinity for the process has him meeting with 16 students every Thursday. He spends a half-hour each with sixth graders and eighth graders at Evans Middle School.

It's the first time Johnson has mentored from a professional standpoint, but he said his influence is constant.

"Any time I see a young man or woman, I'm going to say something," he said. "This just gives me a better opportunity."

And he and other mentors are indeed "reaching" students, according to a Big Brothers and Big Sisters survey, which found that of students involved in school-based mentoring, 95 percent moved onto the next grade, 75 percent improved their peer relationships and 69 percent improved their school attendance and relationships with authority figures.

The REACH program provides every McKinney ISD campus with a referral form through which schools select students they think could benefit from having a mentor. As in most school districts, such students are aplenty in McKinney ISD, Kennedy said.

"A lot of times, if they have a difficult home life, they need an outlet -- someone they can talk to," Kennedy said. "Even those who have good parents but are struggling for whatever reason, they can benefit, as well. Mentors can give that extra encouragement and support."

Kennedy, who had several adult mentors growing up, pointed to his administrative assistant, Debra Pintar, as a shining example of REACH's influence. Pintar has mentored a now-seventh grader at Scott Johnson Middle School since the student was in second grade.

She visits the student once a week at school, and in years past, helped educators discover that the student was dyslexic, which was why she previously struggled through standardized tests.

"It's so heartwarming to see how she has grown," Pintar said. "I really feel like I know her well enough that I can approach her about things."

The two have maintained their friendship in spite of others' warnings that students tend to dismiss their mentors once they reach middle school or high school. Their secondary years are actually when students need mentors most, said Marcus Bourland, assistant principal at McKinney North High School.

McKinney ISD students can obtain emergency medical technician (EMT), nursing assistant and pharmacy technician certifications by the time they graduate from high school. But because middle school and high school are often the toughest times in students' childhood, mentors are sometimes necessary to keep them focused on such bigger, better things.

They may bend, but with a mentor, they won't likely break.

"Knowing the challenges of what our kids are facing during this period is huge," Bourland said. "We can just require them to act a certain way, but if there's no one there to mentor them, they don't know how. The way you grow up is by example."

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