Mentoring is not a new idea at AE/MS. It has actually become a bit of a tradition. Ms. Lane, the guidance counselor at AE/MS, also runs the mentoring program. The goal for this year’s mentoring program is to nurture a community with a variety of students, and she wants everyone to feel important and liked, wanting to come to school and being excited about life.

The eighth graders are the lead mentors, who meet once a week to plan out activities for the program, and Ms. Lane gets the supplies to help them. Each week, the eighth graders buddy up with the second and third grade students, while the fifth graders have buddies in kindergarten. 

This is the first year that there are two different mentoring groups happening at the same time. The program was originally just for eighth grade and kindergarten, but adding more grades this year will help with the goal of nurturing a closer community.

When asked about getting the other middle school grades involved, Ms. Lane said that she also uses seventh graders to fill in for eighth graders if they are not there. She is pondering whether she should add sixth and seventh graders to the mentoring program. She hopes she can make the program fun for everyone and will change it to make it so.