A Win for Happiness

Did you see Grand Area Mentoring’s report from last school year? It was awesome. You helped Grand County’s at-risk students get better grades, attend school more often, and improve their social skills.

But wait. You don’t remember tutoring your mentee? You don’t remember encouraging her to abandon her truant ways? You didn’t provide specific instruction on getting
along better with peers and adults?

Of course you don’t remember all of those things! You don’t remember because mentoring is subtler and more powerful than that. Rather than attack these major issues
(symptoms) head on, mentoring addresses one of the root causes: students’ mental health.

How? Mentoring:

• naturally increases a youth’s participation in fun activities
• reduces opportunities to withdraw from positive engagement
• buffers against the stresses of crises and risk factors associated with poverty
• and provides gentle feedback to students about their strengths and weaknesses.

So, the lynchpin of effective mentoring is an improved state of mind. This is what allows our kids to do better in other domains like academics, attendance, and behavior.

What’s the real measure of your success? It’s this: 100% of parents agree that mentoring has benefited their sons or daughters in some way, but 93% believe their children are happier since being matched with a mentor.

Have fun with your mentee. Make her happy. Make him laugh. Enjoyment leads to better  outcomes.