Last fall, Jennifer Severns, a fifth-grade teacher at Ann Brock Elementary at Oak Grove, and Philo Waters, Brock’s principal, approached Huguley Memorial Medical Center administrators to pilot a mentoring program to give students hope for a successful future. Eighteen Huguley employees immediately signed up for the program.
Mentors spent about an hour each month with their student at school during lunch or recess and corresponded with them through e-mails and letters of encouragement. Mentors were also invited to attend several school events such as a holiday sing-along, a TAKS pep rally, the fifth-grade talent festival, and the end-of-year ceremony.
Linda Knutson, administrative assistant at Huguley, was a mentor to a young girl who had reading difficulties and came from a bilingual home. Knutson says she bought her some simple books that she thought the girl might like. “At the end of the school year, she wrote me a note telling me, ‘I feel better about myself,’” said Knutson.
Severns said that several of the mentors came to visit the children at school before the TAKS tests to give them encouragement. “Their support has definitely made a difference.” said Severns. “It really helped the kids know that someone else cared about them.”
The program began last September and concluded with the children touring the Huguley campus with their mentors on May 26. Kent Tucker, Huguley’s vice president, led the tour. “It’s been fun to see the interaction and level of trust being established,” said Tucker.
After the tour, Waters said that it was “wonderful tha¬t these kids got the chance to see all the different options for their futures. We saw many of the different careers that are available within a hospital – admissions, radiology, the emergency room, engineering services, material management and sterile processing.
“Seeing where their mentors work was just to let our kids know that there is something out there for them to do if they just apply themselves.”
Waters says the fact that the mentors tell the students about the choices they’ve made and paths they’ve taken to do their job gives the student the idea that they, too, can have a positive future. And sometimes, he says, the mentors are just there to listen and care.
The school dedicated this year’s yearbook to the Huguley mentors for their support. “The children loved the program so much,” said Severns. “They used this dedication to say ‘thank you.’”
The program will continue this fall at Huguley, and employees are excited. “They’re eager for the program to begin again, and more employees are ready to sign up,” said Tucker.
According to Severns, knowing that someone else cares about their future has made a huge difference to the kids. “These kids’ faces light up when they see their mentors. Huguley’s employees have gone above and beyond,” she said.