“I genuinely don’t think I’d be where I am now, pursuing this career path, if I didn’t choose to do mentoring when I was in high school. It taught me so much about helping younger students with their day-to-day issues, and being empathetic.” –Dane Johnson, who is now in a graduate program in child psychology at Rowan University in New Jersey.
High school freshmen can be immature, nervous about being in a big school with upper classmen, who often take school more seriously, goof off less, and focus on studying. What to do to make the younger ones, particularly those who aren’t motivated to learn and have low academic achievements, understand that school is important, even when college or the workforce seems too many years away to worry about?
Well, one school district in New Jersey is offering a course in which seniors mentor freshmen and both parties get class credit, according to an article in EdWeek from August 28. The program at Cumberland Regional High School in Bridgeton, N.J., started about a decade ago, and has changed the lives of some students. One young man’s experience mentoring a younger student inspired him to pursue a degree and career in child psychology.
The seniors discuss with freshmen, who are often academically at risk, about stresses and challenges in high school, effective study habits, organization skills, time management, conflict resolution, and note taking. The freshmen complete projects throughout the semester, including one that involves researching potential careers and presenting their findings to the class.
Freshman year is often the most challenging socially and academically, according to research, with the highest course failure rates. Students who fail freshman year are about half as likely to graduate as their peers with better grade point averages. This seems like a great program for other schools to explore. Maybe then, unmotivated freshmen wouldn’t disrupt their classmates who really do want to learn and succeed in school.
Jennifer Nelson 
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