School-based Mentoring

School-based mentoring takes place at a mentee’s school (elementary, middle or high school), either during the school hours or immediately after school. Matches meet on school grounds, in full view of program staff. Mentors and mentees often have a designated meeting place within the building and/or use of school facilities to meet. The types of match activities in this setting may include tutoring, working on homework, playing sports and/or games. Typically, this type of mentoring asks the mentor for a commitment of at least one school year.

Sandra and Krystal, Reading, PA
With gentle guidance during fun activities mentor helps teenage girl from a family of nine kids improve grades, set goals for college, and raise funds to participate in the youth missionary in the Philippines.

Matt and Sam, Minneapolis, MN
Mentor helps mentee with homework during weekly meetings at school; they play sports and video games; after mentee transfers to a different school without a formal mentoring program, mentor arranges with new school for mentoring partnership to continue.

June and Kenny, Dover, DE
“Opposites attract” mentoring couple – African American woman from the city mentors a white fourth-grader living in the country; despite initial hesitations mentoring relationship flourishes; mentor helps her mentee improve his grades and his self-esteem.

Peter and Matt, Dover, DE
Retiree mentors a school boy; helps him develop math and analytic skills by playing dominoes and card games; talks to the boy’s teachers to help him perform better in school; the couple builds a kite each year before summer as an annual rite of passage.

Sue and Lizzie, Minneapolis, MN
Retiree mentors an 11-year-old in a mutually beneficial relationship; both claim that shared experiences, challenges and successes transcend age; after six months of meeting weekly at school, mentor petitions to expand the program to community-based mentoring.

Steve and Dwight, Waterloo, IA
Director of local performing arts center tutors a new to the area fourth-grader within the framework of the school-based program; the time he spends with his mentee transcends homework to understanding how hard work influences future opportunities.

Don and Shane, Dover, DE
Former mentee art professor mentors a second-grade boy whose parents are going through divorce by teaching him art and self-expression, a coping mechanism for a boy facing a big change at home; mentee wins an award for the best T-shirt design for a mentoring program at a reception hosted by the state’s secretary of education.