Spring Branch ISD Featured News

As Spring Branch Independent School District celebrates the 20^th anniversary of the SpringBoard Mentoring Program, we are taking time to profile a few of the myriad success stories that have been developed by hundreds of mentor-mentee relationships. Read on to learn about a unique friendship that continues beyond the bounds of time and location.

A Profound Effect

A mutual fan club was established in 2017 at Spring Branch Middle School in Spring Branch Independent School District.

Joy McCormack was a parent there when she was connected with her then sixth grade mentee Isaiah Liggins by the mentor program coordinator at the time, Nelda Zuniga.

“I am not sure why Nelda put us together but there were very few male mentors, and we were a perfect fit,” said McCormack. “I wanted to see the world through his eyes.  No matter what obstacles were in his way, he always had a smile on his face.  Neither of us took no for an answer.”

Early in the development of their friendship, during weekly lunch visits at Spring Branch Middle and Spring Forest Middle School, the duo worked on homework, chatted about classes, friends, and his goals.

“Isaiah was an excellent artist and I loved to watch him shade his maps for Social Studies,” McCormack said.

“She pushed me to do my very best even before I reached high school,” said Liggins. She also made sure he got the eyeglasses needed to see in his classes and reminded him to turn assignments in on time.

“He is such a great kid,” said Zuniga of her former student. “I saw something in him early on and I have kept in touch with him over the years. I am so proud of what he has accomplished.”

During his years at Spring Woods High School, Liggins won multiple awards at the national level as a debater and poet. McCormack even volunteered at his debate tournaments when she could. He also excelled at the state level in the All-State Choir.

Now a freshman at the University of Michigan, Liggins is majoring in music on a full ride scholarship. He continues to be thankful for the support of his mentor throughout his time in middle and high school.

“She is one of the strongest people I know,” Liggins said of his mentor. “She has a family of her own and a job I know is stressful, and yet she still makes time to ask me how I am doing and if I am alright here at the U of M.”

Liggins recommends that other students consider having a mentor. “They truly care about you and your future,” he said. “Share your hardships, your failures and your successes.”

McCormack wants potential mentors to know that mentoring is not always easy, that some weeks are better than others. “But, if you keep on, you will receive way more than you give,” she said.

Liggins encourages new and continuing mentors to know that it is important to support their mentees. “What may not seem much to you can mean the world to your future mentee,” said Liggins. “Be that pillar that they can lean on.”

“Isaiah has had a profound effect on my life,” McCormark said. “His positive attitude and can-do spirit and drive inspired me to not give up.”

The mutual respect Liggins has for his mentor can be summed up by this comment: “Ms. Joy is to me a star mentor!”

For more information about the mentoring in SBISD, click here.