A new peer mentoring program has begun here at EHHS. Mrs. Melissa Dwyer, Ms. Kayla Torpey, and Mr. Salvatore Vollero started running this program just this year, which meets during FLEX block. The purpose of the peer mentoring program at EHHS is to increase student involvement in programs around our school. Mrs. Dwyer says that the inspiration behind this program was that, “Oftentimes, a student will struggle in an adult talk. A teenager will think: this person doesn’t understand what it’s like or what’s going on. So that peer to peer mentoring relationship, where you know that you are talking to someone who maybe has been through similar things or is in the same kind of age range, it hits different.”
The program is for upperclassmen to essentially talk to and guide the freshman as they navigate through their first year of high school. Students are normally admitted to the peer mentoring program through recommendations of their teachers; however, they can also directly contact Mrs. Dwyer, Ms. Torpey, or Mr. Vollero with interest in joining the program. The overall goal of this program is for the students to grow, both the mentors and mentees. Mrs. Dwyer says, “Whether it’s taking something away from their mentor, they were able to persevere through difficult times, and it’s also for the mentors to learn some leadership skills and see how they can make a difference in someone’s life and their community and be able to transfer that over to their adult life, or when they go to college.” The children also get paired up based upon who they gravitate towards, originally, the program tried to pair them up based upon similar interests, however they decided to instead do whole group activities and see who works best with who and was overall most compatible.
The program participates in fun activities with their mentors and mentees such as making vision boards or even just having a movie day with snacks. Mrs. Dwyer, Ms. Torpey, and Mr. Vollero all hope for more students to join the program, as it is still looking for new members. They look for kids who have good attendance, kids that are not getting in lots of trouble, and perform well academically. Mrs. Dwyer can be contacted at [email protected], Ms. Torpey can be contacted at [email protected], and Mr. Vollero can be contacted at [email protected] for any interested mentors or mentees.
