 "Photo: Special to The Daily Gamecock")
Jennifer Kumar has been volunteering at Dent Middle School for one year as a mentor. For the kids, she is not only a teacher but also a friend, helping them stay in school and prepare for life.
She is one, among more than 100 USC students, who joined the Someone to Count On mentoring program. Someone to Count On is a collaboration among Richland One School District, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Columbia and Communities In Schools of the Midlands.
Julie Tovey, president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Greater Columbia, said the project is seeking mentors, Lunch Buddies and tutors to volunteer with the youth in Richland and Lexington counties.
In the program, volunteers are matched with a child after an interview, background checks and reference checks. Once they are matched, a mentor and a mentee usually meet each other one hour a week for one school year, as the program recommends.
Kumar, a third-year finance student, said she was looking for a way to give back to the community. She said she thought being a mentor was a good choice.
Tovey said a mentor and a mentee participate in various activities. The program starts with activities that are focused around talking and getting to know each other. Once a friendship is built, she said they play sports, do schoolwork together, play games, walk around the par or participate in other fun activities.
Tovey said these activities have provided positive outcomes for the children, including improvement in their academic grades, behaviors and relationships building skills.
Katy Watkins, volunteer and mentoring program coordinator at Richland One School District, said the role of a mentor is not necessarily like those of a teacher or a tutor.
"A mentor is just somebody who is friend," Watkins said. "I stress that a mentor is not a tutor. They are not about changing values or teaching right or wrong. Mentors are really just friends and guides."
Children participating in the program come from various types of family structures and socio-economic backgrounds. In some cases, Tovey said single parents bring their children because they need a positive male or female role that they don't have at home.
Volunteering is a good way to give back to the community, but being a mentor is beneficial to college students as well, Tovey said.
"Sometimes we get volunteers who think they want to go into teaching. And that is really an eye opener for what teaching is all about," said Terry Linder, executive director of Communities In Schools of the Midlands. "Sometimes they decide 'this is great and this is exactly what I want to do.'"
Tovey said the relationship between a mentor and a mentee can be a very long friendship, lasting more than 10 years in some cases.
"They look forward to you being there and they really appreciate your presence," Kumar said.
Watkins said the program still needs many more volunteers. She said they have a long list of children waiting for a mentor.
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