October 20, 2000 UNT Inhouse publication: UNT program helps local students

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UNT program helps local students

Susie was abandoned by her mother only three days after her birth and didn't meet her until age 7. She has never met her father. She is living with her grandmother, whom her grandfather abandoned because of the children in the house.

Sean's father was recently released from jail. His parents eat dinner in their bedroom by themselves, neglecting Sean and his younger brother.

Despite their troubled families, these middle school students — identified by names other than their own — receive encouragement for their schoolwork and life in general, thanks to a new course offered in the School of Community Service

Students enrolled in COMS 4610, Community Service in Action, serve as mentors to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from Strickland, McMath and Calhoun middle schools in Denton and Stockard Middle School in Dallas. They meet with their assigned students on the school campuses at least twice a week.

During the course's first semester last spring, 48 students were enrolled, including many varsity athletes. They were assigned to 60 middle school students. All of the middle school students had been identified by their counselors as being at high risk for dropping out of school and failing the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test.

Syl Flores, the course instructor, anticipates that more than 100 middle school students will be mentored this semester, with some UNT students assigned to more than one student. Mentors with more than one student meet with each student separately, he says.

Students at the UNT System Center at Dallas will take the course through interactive television and will primarily mentor students at Stockard Middle School, he says.

"There's such a demand for mentoring right now. These middle school students need attention that they aren't receiving at home or anyplace else," Flores says. "When the UNT mentors are assigned to the students, they're paired by sex, race or similar interests, like sports, so that the students can bond with those who are somewhat similar to them."

Flores says the course grew out of one of his sociology courses, which required students to do community service.

"From reading those course evaluations, I realized how many students' lives had been changed by community service," he says. "One student was supposed to earn a business degree and run the family business, but after taking that course, he's now teaching in the Grand Prairie ISD."

Students who wish to take the class must have a criminal background check and provide references, he says.

"This is an interdisciplinary course open to all majors, but it isn't a course for just anybody because of the time commitment," he says.

Fred Pertile, a junior applied arts and sciences major, took the course "to give something back to the community."

"I received a lot of support and gained confidence from those in my own community (Midland)," says Pertile, a linebacker for the UNT football team.

Junior Jason Miller had worked as a mentor when he was in high school.

"I love working with kids, and it makes me feel good to see a kid succeed because of what I've done," says Miller, a member of the basketball team.

In addition to visiting each week, the mentors and their assigned students completed service projects for the middle schools, such as painting parking lots.

"We wanted the students who were being mentored to know what it's like to give back to the community," Flores says. "It was also a confidence builder for them, since their schools publicly recognized them."

The mentors kept journals of their encounters with their students and met as a group every other week to share their experiences. At the end of the semester, each mentor wrote an analysis of the entire experience with his or her student..

Many of the mentors from last semester's class say they quickly bonded with their students.

Phil Everson, a senior business major, says his student went from telling his friends that he was his TAAS tutor "to telling them I was his buddy."

"He said he was going to miss me when I was gone, and I am going to miss him dearly as well," he says. "We both went through the same thing; we went from meeting a complete stranger one day to having a great friend the next."

Mentoring was often difficult for some of the UNT students.

"My student was a repeating seventh grader and an F student. He needed to stay focused. Sometimes, he would come to me and want to talk about girls rather than his schoolwork," Pertile says. "I had him write down goals for school and obstacles to those goals, and I had him rewrite them every day."

Sophomore business major Tyler Helwig says his student, a second-year eighth-grader, "was extremely nervous throughout the entire experience."

"Our conversations resulted in positive moments. I taught him how to greet and meet people, how to talk to girls, how to dress in high school and other important things that will come his way," he says.

Other mentors were equally proud of their accomplishments with their students.

Brodrick McGrew spent hours practicing reading skills with his student.

"I am very proud to say that he raised his grades high enough to make the A and B honor roll," says McGrew, a senior majoring in occupational training and development.

Pertile's student improved enough academically that he ended the semester with a "C" average and was promoted to eighth grade. Miller says his student, who was suspended twice during the semester for fighting, improved his behavior.

The UNT students say they benefited from mentoring almost as much as the middle school students.

"Mentoring helps you put your life in perspective and be grateful for the opportunities given to you," Helwig says.

Birdia Johnson, an applied arts and sciences major, intends to continue mentoring in some way.

"I learned that children need friends. If I wasn't there, my student may have chosen another route in life — a negative one," she says. "It felt great being an influence in someone's life."