Sixteen mentees and 10 community mentors gathered at the CFES Center last week to share their mid-year successes from the CFES Program at Willsboro Central School. College For Every Student hosted the mentor-mentee gathering where participants also explored new ways to advance mentoring at Willsboro Central.
The CFES Mentoring practice, one of the three core components of the CFES Program, includes mentoring by student peers, college students and community members. The other two practices are Leadership Through Service and Pathways to College and Career. Mentoring by community members helps mentees continue to cultivate the Essential Skills, such as resilience, teamwork and leadership, that will help them move along the college-career pathway.
“We’re excited to host our Willsboro mentoring participants,” said Tara Smith, CFES vice president for programs, who also serves as a mentor. “CFES works with 25,000 students in 200 schools throughout the country and in Ireland, and we’re thrilled to work with our neighbors.”
The Willsboro juniors and seniors who participated at the CFES Center cited several reasons that mentoring has had such a positive impact on them. The students said that community mentors have:
• offered them insights into life after high school.
• helped them improve their listening skills.
• taught them how to voice their own opinions.
Mike Douglas, Willsboro Central School’s athletic director and CFES liaison, said community mentoring offers valuable perspectives from outside of the classroom. “It’s good for students to gain advice from mentors. It reinforces and strengthens what young people learn at home and in school.”
Leave a Reply