Mentor Monday — the latest partnership between Manteca Unified School District and the community to work toward greater student success — debuts today.
Initially 13 community-based volunteer mentors will meet with 61 students today from 3 to 4 o’clock in the Manteca High library. The goal is to have one mentor for every three to five students.
The goal of the MUSD Mentor Match is to help high school students as they prepare to make the transition to college and career life. The program aims to connect students with mentors so they can gain perspective on their life ahead in a particular career category.
Students are being encouraged to query their mentors on their life experiences as well as what to expect in college and the workplace.
“There is not a rigid outline as to where this program will go,” noted MUSD District Superintendent Jason Messer. “We want it to go where students needs take it.”
MUSD Mentor Match is the outgrowth of an inquiry from Del Webb at Woodbridge residents who offered their time to help students succeed.
Although the bulk of the initial mentors are residents from the age-restricted community populated with retirees or those who are empty nesters and past the age of 55, the ranks also include other school district residents.
The initial year will have all of the four planned sessions taking place at Manteca High as the bulk of the students that asked to participate are from the campus. As the program proceeds and takes shape, the plan is to decentralize it with monthly Mentor Mondays at all of the district’s five comprehensive high school campuses — Manteca, East Union, Ripon, Lathrop, and Weston Ranch.
Unlike more traditional and structured community interaction in the past such as career days, Mentor Monday is designed to let student needs and concerns drive the discussion.
A sample meeting agenda may entail 10 minutes of everyone introducing themselves, 10 minutes for short presentations followed by mentor introductions and the discussion of group goals. There will be group activities giving mentors the chance to share their insights within a group and discuss what they’d like to see happen at the next meeting.
Messer noted that the MUSD Mentor Match could evolve significantly from that point. He again emphasized it is an endeavor that will take shape from student needs.
Other meetings are planned for March 14, April 11, and May 2 from 3 to 4 p.m. each day at the Manteca Library.
Like all volunteers in public schools, mentors are fingerprinted. They pay the $47 cost unless it is a hardship
To help get the program rolling, an interest survey of careers was conducted of students that are participating to establish the initial interest based inventory for matches.
The initial 32 categories are listed at http://j.mp/MUSDmentormatch where mentors were asked to check at least five categories that intrigued them. The same request was also made of students.
Those categories are accounting, administration/management, automotive, banking/financing, budgeting, career path, college applications, college essay writing, cooking, customer service, design, education, engineering, entrepreneurship, healthcare, housing options, insurance, internships, legal, manufacturing, marketing, mathematics, military, portfolio creation, real estate, resume writing, restaurants, retail, sales, science, telecommunications, and transportation.
