![\"IMG_6378](\"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/IMG_6378-Sue-Bowser.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cPeople might hesitate to mentor if they haven\u2019t taught school, but you don\u2019t have to have been a teacher to mentor. It\u2019s just getting to know kids, sharing ideas and sharing quality time with them,\u201d Bowser said. \u201cYou feel like you are making a difference. No experience needed.\u201d<\/p>\nAnne Heyniger\u2019s experience speaking a foreign language has been invaluable to the third-grader with whom she meets weekly. Her mentee Tim moved to the United States from France this school year,\u00a0speaking\u00a0only French when he enrolled. Heyniger, who lived overseas for most of her life as a Foreign Service wife and taught English and French to college students,\u00a0has been able to provide him the comfort of his native language while he learns English at school.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s becoming more bilingual every day,\u201d said Heyniger.\u00a0She does bring her copy of French Scrabble to play occasionally, but she also practices English with Tim through books, puzzles and conversations while playing games.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnne is nice. I like to see her and play games,\u201d said Tim in English. \u201cI beat her every time,\u201d he added with a smile when talking about checkers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really go above and beyond,\u201d said Parkway principal Krista Barton-Arnold of her staff members.<\/p>\n Office associate Sabra Mullis brought her 2-year-old granddaughter to see her fourth-grade Panther Pal in the school\u2019s winter holiday performance, \u201cThe Littlest Christmas Tree.\u201d She also visited the student\u2019s class to see her presentation about sea otters.\u00a0Mullis also made sure her first-grade Panther Pal was able to attend school\u2019s pumpkin carving event by taking him herself.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they feel valued and cared for,\u201d said Mullis of her work as a mentor. \u201cThe student has extra encouragement, academic help at times, and it helps the teacher, too, because she has someone to come alongside the student if they are having a rough day.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Garner, a Panther Pal to five students in grades two through five, one of her Pals has made a series of poor choices in recent months. \u201cShe\u2019s grown into this intelligent, articulate and beautiful young lady, and I don\u2019t want to see her become a statistic,\u201d said Garner, who will follow up with parents and guardians so they can reinforce good decision making at home as well.<\/p>\n Mosher encountered some pushback when first getting to know her Panther Pal. She left an encouraging note in his desk when she was working in the classroom with the teacher and students.\u201cI saw him in the hall and he said, \u2018I ripped up your note.\u2019\u201d Mosher chuckles at the memory now and recalls telling her Pal she had plenty more notes where that one came from.\u00a0Days later, when Mosher was working in the class, she saw the note was still tucked neatly inside in the student\u2019s desk \u2013 all in one piece.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was testing me,\u201d Mosher acknowledged. \u201cHe was really untrusting and wondering, \u2018Is this person for real? What are her motives?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n After a year and a half together, Mosher\u2019s motives are no longer questioned. \u201cHe wants to be a coder, so we\u2019ve been working on coding,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is a lot that is so positive about him, and I just want him and others to know that.\u201d<\/p>\n Tignor explains that the program \u201cis a connection with at-risk girls that puts tools in their hands to help navigate as students and as young women.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe discuss how important education is – how important and what power they have in choosing relationships, especially with young men,\u201d said Tignor. \u201cWe want them to understand the power they have to intercept bullying in their own lives and in the lives of their friends and acquaintances.\u00a0 We tell them, \u2018If you see this situation going on, here\u2019s the power you have to intercept that and to be a rescuer.\u2019 They like that word.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>Students are also smiling at Parkway Elementary School while spending time with their mentors – better known as \u201cPanther Pals.\u201d\u00a0Parkway staff members serve as mentors and build positive connections with students outside the classroom by eating lunch together or checking in with each other throughout the week.<\/p>\n<\/a>Helping students through tough days and talking with them about the value of making good decisions regarding behavior and academics are also noted as important by Panther Pals Michelle Garner and Meghan Mosher.<\/p>\n<\/a>Having middle school girls feel positive about themselves is the goal of Plaza Middle School mentor Terry Tignor. Tignor and three other volunteers from Wave City Care facilitate the ShineGIRL personal development program in afterschool sessions at Plaza. Tignor notes that male volunteers from Wave City Care lead ManPOWER sessions for male students.<\/p>\n