Keizertimes., March 18, 2016, Page B11, Image 25

MARCH 18, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE B11
Celts pitch in to mentor Kennedy Wildcats
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
When Susanne Stefani showed up with a
group of McNary High School students to help
out with the Kennedy Elementary School Acad-
emy of Leadership (KAL) there was one prob-
lem: no one was exactly certain what they were
expected to do.
“I saw an opportunity to see us further engage
our students while at the same time increase our
mentor program and community involvement by
offering an afterschool opportunity. After fl oat-
ing the idea to some folks in the community we
started recruiting mentors and the rest is history,”
said Jesse Leonard, Kennedy’s principal.
During the course of the fi rst hour, the Ken-
nedy students and their assigned mentors got to
know each other, played a couple of games and
then ate dinner together.
Stefani, an instructional coach at McNary, had
fl oated the idea to the Celtic leadership students.
She enticed them by telling them how good it
would look on a resume.
“Then we came here and it’s not about us at
all, it’s about making connections with the kids.
That’s why we keep coming,” said Celt Riley
Hamilton.
KAL held its third meeting of the year at the
school Thursday, March 4, and it was hard to tell
they hadn’t been at it for a while.
At the start of the meeting, students and their
mentors looked over the goal charts they’d pre-
pared the previous week. It included an assess-
ment by each of the Wildcats’ homeroom teach-
ers as to how they were progressing on the goals
they’d set for themselves.
“One of my girls goes through a lot at home
and it’s hard for her to improve at school when
there is so much else going on. She had her fi rst
review and it wasn’t that good. It’s eye-opening
to see how the different parts of their lives af-
fect them,” said mentor Cory Matlock, a McNary
student.
After offering some advice and guidance on
how to do better the coming week, the students
set new goals to work on in the future.
“One of my kids wants to have better behav-
ior this week and she wants to clean her room.
So I had her make a list on the back of her paper
of steps she could take to do those things,” said
mentor Sydney Hamilton.
After working with their mentors in small
BETTER THAN NEW
WITH A CLASSIC TOUCH
BEFORE
AFTER
FREE
ESTIMATES
503.393.2875
remodelkeizer.com
CCB#155626
EXPERIENCE
• PROFESSIONALISM • TRUSTWORTHINESS
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
McNary’s Ubaldo Rojas works with a pair of Kennedy students during a meeting of the Kennedy
Academy of Leadership.
groups, the whole club heads to the gym from
the cafeteria to take part in team-building ex-
ercises.
Some mentors, like Enrique Saldana, are draw-
ing on their own experiences, having worked
with older students when they were in elemen-
tary school.
“I used to have a potty mouth and I needed
to be more respectful and my mentor helped me
with that, now one of my kids is dealing with the
same thing,” Saldana said. “I have an older sister,
but my mentor was like having an older brother
and it’s not quite the same thing.”
For other mentors, providing guidance to
younger students is a wholly new experience.
“I never had a mentor growing up and I
thought this would be a good opportunity to
give back something I didn’t have when I was
their age,” said mentor Jaret Brown.
Celt Ubaldo Rojas, who is also president of
the McNary Latino Club, said he felt a pull to be
part of the program.
“I wish I had a mentor like this when I was a
little kid and if I can do it for someone else, I’m
Serving up
community
Members of the Keizer
Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints serve up
meals at last month’s com-
munity dinner at St. Edward
Catholic Church. The next
free community meal will be
Wednesday, March 30, from
5 to 7 p.m. at the same site.
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
going to do it,” Rojas said. “I ask them how their
day is going and then try to be an older sibling.
It’s cool to hear what they want to do and answer
their questions about high school so they can be
good role models and do this when they get to
high school.”
Getting one-on-one time with students of-
tentimes struggling in ways others don’t perceive
has made McNary senior Alicia Capuchine more
sensitive to what’s happening in her own life.
“One of my girls has an older sister that kind
of bullies her. She wants to be better at sharing
how that makes her feel, and it’s made me treat
my sister differently. I ask her how her day was
more often,” Capuchine said.
As for those worries Stefani had at the start of
the fi rst meeting? Well, there wasn’t much to be
concerned about. At the end of the fi rst hour, one
of the Kennedy students came up and asked why
every day couldn’t be Thursday.
Kennedy’s Academy of Leadership is looking
for more mentors. The group meets every Thurs-
day from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. To volunteer, contact
the school offi ce at 503-399-3163.