ETSU students have been encouraged to come forward and mentor school children into becoming better people in the future.
ETSU mentoring program co-coordinator Susan Lachmann said the program needed more students who could offer mentoring services to young school children.
“We need students to come up so that they can become role models to our young children who are still in elementary and middle school,” she said.
Lachmann said the mentoring program “Even It Up” helps school children receive support and guidance from a mentor in their community, which improves their academic performance and reduces dropout rates among students.
More so, she affirmed that the program helps improve interpersonal relationships between the students and their peers, teachers and other adults and family members, which goes a long way to reducing the students’ juvenile delinquency and involvement in gangs.
The program, which caters to children who are in elementary and middle school levels, has been in existence for the last two years. The program helps students who are the mentors to the school children meet their in-class requirement by gaining hands-on experience.
“We assist students to have practical experiences, as they are able to go to the fields and share their knowledge with the young kids” Lachmann said.
She said that both ETSU students and the young children get to gain a lot as they benefit more from the exposure that the program offers. “It is a win-win situation here as students from the university get to learn from the experience and the kids feel great at having a mentor who is willing to share some information with them.”
She said a lot of the kids benefit because they view college students talking to them as ‘cool.’
Lachmann said that there are so many things you get to learn from this experience that you can’t get from school.
“There are a lot of things that you can’t learn from a textbook, but with the interaction that the program is offering, it enables you to have lots of experiences.”
She said the program requires a lot of commitment as one has to encourage the children to perform and pursue well in their education.
“You have to become the children’s role model so that as they grow they can strive to become better people in life,” she said.
Young children need a lot of adult support, Lachmann said, which should always be given to them so that they can grow up into becoming respected and responsible people in the society.
The program currently needs students who are studying in various fields, especially education, sociology and community work.
“Some students have already joined the program and using it to enhance their in-service learning program which is part of their requirement,” Lachmann said.
“Even It Up” is helping students to gain confidence in their respective fields as they are able to interact and offer advices to young children, Lachmann said.
She said the program encourages success in schools by exposing students to real-world experiences and introducing children to career opportunities and essential job skills they may not have considered or even known about.
Lachmann added that the program encourages group activities, which foster self-reliance as well as teamwork, discipline and problem solving, all of which are proven to translate to academic, behavioral and personal success.
For more information, contact Lachmann at 439-6066 or visit www.etsu.edu/Keystone.

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