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The Benefits of Mentoring
It's hard to believe that the month of January has flown by so quickly! During the first month of the year, we always celebrate National Mentoring Month - a time when we reflect on what mentoring has meant to us in the past, as well as what it means to the young people at YouthZone who are currently being mentored through our Pals Program.
Through the YouthZone Pals Program, both kids and adults are offered an opportunity to create lasting friendships through mentoring. Pals is a voluntary, one-on-one mentoring program that focuses on providing young people with support, counsel, friendship, reinforcement, positive role modeling, and activities. Volunteer mentors are 16 years of age or older and youth in the program can be from K-8th grade. Both volunteers and youth go through a thorough interview and our mentors are all screened and trained. A mentor match is made according to activity interests, personality traits, individual likes and dislikes, and location.
So why would someone consider mentoring? The results of mentoring relationships are astounding! For example, consider the following statistics:
- Students who meet regularly with their mentors are 52% less likely than their peers to skip a day of school and 37% less likely to skip a class.
- Young adults who face an opportunity gap but have a mentor are 55% more likely to be enrolled in college than those who did not have a mentor.
- In addition to better school attendance and a better chance of going on to higher education, mentored youth maintain better attitudes toward school.
- 46% less likely than their peers to start using illegal drugs and 27% less likely to start drinking.
- Mentoring promotes positive social attitudes and relationships. Mentored youth tend to trust their parents more and communicate better with them.
January also provides us with a time to thank our current mentors for their time and dedication. Here is a big
THANK YOU
to all of our mentors:
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Teen Mentors:
Liz Acosta
Estefania Galaviz-Aguilar
Brandon Benzel
Maddie Bolitho
Tess Lang Burns
Lindsey Busk
Teresa Busk
Kylie Crawford
Dani DeCrow
Atlanta Ellison
Jessica Feese
Mariah Hagan
Lillie Harden
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Savannah Kelley
Lily MacCachran
Delcid Marquez
Alexis Olmedo
Maija Petterson
Alex Trejo
Sarah Vicks
Ismael Villegas
Adult Pals Mentors:
Paula Busk
Tyler Desiderio
Merle Detweiler
Zabdi Fuentes
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Luz Galaviz
Susan Goldberg
Jeanine King
Terri Knob
Kara Kochenberger
Fabian Lujan
Connie Minter
Libby McNeill
David Rippy
Mary Rippy
Michaela Fiore-Ruger
David Stampfl
Kendra Wilson
Chelsea-Anne Yepello
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