Spring Branch ISD Featured News

 

You wouldn’t think weekly conversations of less than an hour throughout the school year could make a difference in someone’s life.

In Spring Branch ISD, it can and does, every week, when hundreds of mentors come to more than 30 schools to have one-on-one conversations with their mentees.

SBISD directly coordinates two mentor programs: SpringBoard (grades 3-12) and Collegiate Challenge (grades 11-12 for college ready students).

Research shows that young people who have a mentor are more likely to be involved in school activities, to take on leadership roles in and out of school, to give back by volunteering in the community and to aspire to attend and enroll in college.

Heart-warming success stories that exemplify the belief in #Every Child (one of the SBISD Core Values) abound in SBISD, but here are a few that demonstrate the self-worth and support a mentee can feel when a mentor invests time in his or her life.

Mary Harvey, a mentor who is part of the cadre from Memorial Drive Presbyterian’s IMPACT program, began mentoring Alexis at Spring Woods Middle School two years ago. As sometimes happens, Alexis moved to another school district after one year of having a mentor.

But she never forgot about Mary.

“I am so glad I had you in my life,” said Alexis in an email she sent to reconnect with Mary. “You helped me through some of the hardest times of my life.”

At her new school in Odem, Texas, Alexis is making new friends, after initial struggles, and is in the band where she earned first chair and UIL honors.

“I am so glad you cared, made sure I ate, spent time with me for my birthday, helped me with so much and made me so happy,” said Alexis to her mentor.

Mary was thrilled to reconnect electronically with her former mentee. “I am so happy if I helped you,” said Mary. She continued to mentor Alexis by asking, “Do you like your teachers? How are your grades? Have you been staying out of fights so your glasses don’t break?”

From afar, Alexis still feels the support. “Mrs. Mary will always be an important part of my life just like I am for her,” she said. “I will do my BEST now and in high school.”

Another mentor and mentee duo, honored at the January SBISD Board of Trustees meeting during National Mentoring Month, is Jim Lemming and Sharlston Murillo. They began their mentoring relationship at Spring Oaks Middle School in 2003-2004.

As Murillo prepared to graduate from Spring Woods High School in 2011, Lemming said of his mentee in an SBISD Star News article, “We’ll be friends for life.”

And it seems they are!

The pair stayed together all through middle and high school, and Lemming helped his mentee go to the University of Houston. An internship at Lemming’s custom home-building company has now led to full time work for Murillo.

“To have people like Jim… he has inspired me and [helped me] do well for myself,” said Murillo “This [program] helped me. If it hadn’t been for him, I don’t know where I would have been.”

“He is a great family guy, a great mentor… and now a great boss,” he said of his mentor-for-life.

Former mentee, Lithe El Kour, is currently enrolled at Houston Community College, thanks in part to Larry Maple, an award-winning mentor in the SpringBoard Mentoring Program. They told their story to mentors gathered at a recent Mentor U, a continuing education program for SBISD mentors.

They were first matched at Meadow Wood Elementary. Their relationship continued through middle school, and they stayed in touch when El Kour was a volunteer at Family Point Resources prior to graduation from Stratford High School in 2018. They continue to be friends as El Kour is enrolled in college and working as a photographer.

“It’s hard to know where something is going to lead,” said Maple.

“I had to play disciplinarian in fifth grade…we had different perceptions of the relationship, [but] Lithe considered me his mentor.”

“He would help me with my homework and talk about life,” said El Kour of his mentor. “To be able to find someone to catch me when I fall [makes a difference].”

Doug Marshall, a “retired” mentor, shared another story about the power of mentoring.

Marshall and Sergio Samano were matched together in sixth grade through the MDPC IMPACT and SpringBoard mentoring programs. Marshall and Samano continued their relationship through middle and high school, and are connected to this day.

In 2013, Sergio participated in a life prep program at Spring Woods High School called Genesys Works.  Program Coordinator, Sonila Artani, told Marshall, “I just want to thank you for helping Sergio in the way that you have [as a mentor]."

"I can really see the greatness in him compared to others his age, and it is because of people like you that bring out the greatness in these young adults.”

As an engineering graduate of Texas A&M, Marshall admits steering his mentee towards the same university after Samano’s high school graduation in 2014.

“I watched and stayed in touch with him on a five-year journey to graduate from Texas A&M [August 2018] with a degree in construction science and a minor in business,” said Marshall proudly. “He now works for a big commercial construction company.”

“Share the story [of mentoring], it can be done,” said Marshall.

From these stories, and so many more currently in process, we know mentoring works in SBISD.

If you would like to be a positive influence in the life of an SBISD student on the waiting list for a mentor, contact mentor@springbranchisd.com, 713-251-2468, or read about the steps to become a mentor here. Trainings for the 2018-2019 school year continue through mid-March.

By Becky Wuerth, SBISD Communications
Becky.wuerth@springbranchisd.com