Attendance Awareness and a Call for New Mentors!

A new school year is upon us, and as kids return to the classroom, school-based mentoring programs around the state are working hard to make sure that youth feel welcome and engaged in their school communities.   This week, Mobius and mentoring organizations around the state and across the country have been celebrating “Mentoring Works! Week” as a part of the national Attendance Awareness Month campaign.  Attendance rate is a clear statistical indicator of future success, and mentoring plays a key role in keeping young people in class and in school.  A student with a mentor is 52 percent less likely to skip a day of school, and 37 percent less likely to skip a class.

This campaign has been an opportunity to celebrate the good work that mentoring programs around the state do to help students be more involved and successful in academics.  There are many positive benefits for youth who have mentors, and this month is a timely way to celebrate specifically the benefits of academic engagement, while also highlighting the need to expand the work that mentoring programs, schools, and other agencies and organizations do to support young people.

Now is the perfect time for new volunteers to get involved with the mentoring movement.  School-based mentoring programs across the state are just starting up their programming for the year, and are eager to have more mentors join up.  Have you thought about becoming a mentor in the past, but have not yet followed through?  Do you have questions about it what means to be a mentor?  We encourage you to visit our mentoring overview page.  You can learn more about the benefits of mentoring, what a mentor’s role is, and hear about mentoring straight from the source by watching Sam and Ricky’s story.  To find a mentoring opportunity near you, you can search our statewide directory of programs.  If you’re not quite sure what you’re looking for, or have additional questions about mentoring, you can fill out a general inquiry form, and we can help you find a program in your area that matches your schedule and interests.

Join us in celebrating the many benefits of mentoring by signing on to become a mentor today!  I guarantee that there is a young person out there who would benefit from having YOU—a caring, adult friend—in his or her life.

-Benji Thurber
Communications and Technology Manager
Mobius, Vermont’s Mentoring Partnership