Student mentors draw ‘ahs’ from youngsters

By Lauren Radomski (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Brett Garrahan was greeted with oohs and ahhs when he entered Niki Welde’s fifth grade classroom Tuesday.

“I’ve gotta touch it!” shouted one student, referring to the mowhawk Garrahan hadn’t sported the last time he visited.

To these fifth graders, Garrahan may be a superstar, a friend and a teacher but he’s also a student, one of nearly 50 Fergus Falls High School seniors volunteering in district classrooms this term.

“We have them from pre-K all the way up to eighth grade,” said Beau Krueger, who supervises this year’s senior mentorship participants. Four days a week, these students spend roughly an hour of the school day in area classrooms — supervising recess, leading enrichment activities and offering remedial help, among other tasks. The program provides a .5 elective credit.

“My students have absolutely loved it,” said Dawn Koennicke, an Adams Elementary teacher who’s hosted volunteers in years past. This year, two seniors visit Koennicke’s second grade classroom during math time, sitting among students during lessons and working with smaller groups on more advanced assignments.

And the students can’t get enough of it.

“They all want to have a time with them,” Koennicke said of her second graders.

Senior mentorship began several years ago when high school social studies teacher Ben Jurgens created it as part of his graduate work. Though the program is designed more for the younger students than the old, students like Garrahan seem to benefit, too.

“It’s really fun to work (with fifth graders) because they’re always smiling and enjoying themselves,” he said.

Hannah Draxten, who tutors middle school students during a morning study time, said it’s fulfilling to see students improve.

“After you work with them for awhile and it finally clicks, it’s a great feeling,” she said.

Anne Kalar’s senior mentorship experience influenced her career choice, said her mother Peg, the school district’s volunteer coordinator and the person responsible for matching seniors with classrooms each term. A few years ago, Kalar volunteered with the preschool program at Eisenhower. When she got to college, Peg Kalar said, Anne recalled the work of Eisenhower staff.

“It was watching the speech pathologists that piqued her interest (in the field),” Peg Kalar said, adding that her daughter will begin clinicals in Fargo this spring.

On the one day a week when students aren’t spread across the district, they gather back at the high school with Krueger and small groups of their peers. These meetings, Krueger said, allow students to share experiences from their volunteer sites and brainstorm how to address any challenges that come up.

Also participating in these meetings are the handful of students volunteering not in schools but other community sites — places like the YMCA, A Center for the Arts and the Humane Society. Also a .5 credit program, the community service option — like senior mentorship — will continue into the spring.