It is always wonderful to have someone to talk to in our lives. When you are a fourth grader and a high school student takes the time to get to know you, talk to you, play games with you, and through their actions say that you matter it is a special and fulfilling experience.

The first project Max Marschhausen was tasked with when he became the Community Mobilizer at TEENS, Inc. was to take the idea of a mentorship program and turn it into reality in Nederland. Fortunately, he had some experience with such programs from his prior work in Denver.

Marschhausen says that the overarching goal of the program is to establish continuity across the schools in Nederland. The Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) in Nederland sees that there is a gap in the continuity between Nederland Elementary School and Nederland Middle-Senior High School. Marschhausen said, “As a way to create more relationships across schools and help ease the transition from elementary to middle [school] the YLA thought a mentorship program would be a great way to bridge this gap.” He adds that other goals include boosting self-esteem of mentees, building lasting relationships, developing interpersonal skills, and increasing self-awareness.

With advocacy from the youth and collaboration from Nederland Elementary Principal Caleb Melamed, Nederland Middle-Senior High School Vice Principal Sean DePaula, and TEENS, Inc. Executive Director Stephen LeFaiver all the pieces and logistics came together. With funding from TEENS, Inc., and the PTA’s from Nederland Elementary (NES) and Nederland Middle- Senior High School (NMSHS) the Mentorship Program was able to hire a mentor supervisor. Marschhausen said, “We knew in order to make this a sustainable program it would need a mentor supervisor and Stazi Snelling was an absolute rockstar and was eager to jump into the role.” Snelling is a NES and NMSHS alumnus. Her connections in the community and in the schools run deep.

Once the planning and funding was in place it was time to recruit high school students to be mentors. The mentors come from Nederland High School and Chinook West in Nederland. As part of the recruitment process each mentor sat down for an interview with Marschhausen and he asked them questions about their interests, hobbies and past experiences.

The fourth graders at NES are the mentees. They filled out an application writing about their interests, strengths and areas they want to grow in. The mentors and mentees were then matched based on the interviews and the applications.

Snelling and Marschhausen helped spend time together. the mentors be prepared during their time with the fourth graders by having a training session. They were taught some basic verbal deescalation tactics should they run into any conflict with their mentees. These are skills that can be used throughout life’s experiences.

The mentors and mentees have been meeting at NES since January. They eat lunch together, have recess together and have whole group activities. They meet twice a month. The room is abuzz with excited fourth graders when the high schoolers show up. It is clear that these teenagers are making a positive impact on these elementary students’ lives.

When asked about the Mentorship Program one of the fourth grade girls said, “I like it. I think it is cool. I look forward to Tuesdays when they come.”

A fourth grade boy said, “My mentor, he’s the best! I like it. He gave us Skittles!”

Mentor Trinity LeBlanc replied, when asked about the program, “I really like it. It is great that kids have someone to look up to.”

Mentor Bella Lamb said, “I like being around kids. And I might want to be a teacher someday.”

The mentors from NMSHS are: Ande Hammers, Blue Garcia-Paine, Lauren Dirr, Hayden Hardt-Zeman, Echo Siglin, Nico Dow, Mackenzie Weber, Polina Savich, Teaghan Hartman, and Trinity LeBlanc.

The mentors from Chinook West are: Bella Lamb and Isaac Buckland.

Marschhausen hopes that the number of mentors increases and the program will grow. He says, “My hope is that we boost the self-esteem of both mentors and mentees, that we bridge the gap across schools and create more continuity, and that we create a really robust program that will teach meaningful life skills for both high schoolers and elementary school students.”

Young people in two very different stages in life are coming together in this mentorship program. They are communicating, learning about each other, listening to each other, sharing space, and showing the other person that they matter and have value. That is an exceptional gift to give to another person.