Over the course of the last month, I have accepted the role
of being a mentor to a young boy named Jaone in the third grade at Lincoln
Elementary School. I wouldn't have
gotten this wonderful opportunity had it not been for Coach Crawford who
approached me about it earlier this month.
Coach Crawford is an assistant coach here at UNI for the men’s basketball
team and also happens to be my academic coach as well. He saw that I had a lighter class load this
semester, and was curious if I would be interested in mentoring young children
in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area. He had
one child in mind who he thought could stand to learn a lot from me. It didn't hurt that Janoe was also mentored
by Jake Farley during our Fall semester.
I know that I have been a role model for young students in the area, but
I never thought about taking on one student at a time. I didn't even have to put much thought into
it, I knew I wanted to help out and give some of my time back to the
community.
Growing up as a young kind, you tend to find people who stand
out in the community to look up to.
People who are older that have been through things you've been through
can help give you guidance to help push you or motivate you to be the best you
can be. My parents always told me to be
better than they were, they always wanted the best for me. My mentors and
people who are in my close support circle further push me and remind me that I
am in a position to become successful in whatever I do. They emphasize that I need to be who I am, as
well as put my faith first.
Every Thursday I go over to Lincoln and meet with Jaone and
we discuss goals that we want to accomplish in the coming week. I’ll have Jaone say them out loud and write
them down, and I do as well. This way he
knows and understands that I’m in this with him and that someone else cares
about his success in the classroom. If
he has met his goals then I’ll reward him by going out and playing some one on
one in the gym together, or I let him play on his chrome book or iPad. I want
him to realize that he needs to set goals for himself and that if he meets
those goals he can be whoever he wants to be.
Mentoring has been a learning experience for me as well and I
truly love to give back to the community as much as possible in any way
possible. I like to give back to the next generation who will come after me. If
I can have any effect on them through my experiences in life then I’ll know that
I was able to help them become successful.
