Mentoring is one of the most potent tools a community can utilize to enhance citizenship. The key, however, is to harness mentoring to showcase the rewards and responsibilities of citizenship.

The need to have and/or be a mentor is profound. Children and youth, who benefit from adults mentors in their families and schools, can share those positive behaviors by becoming role models to younger children. Students who participate as mentors have been known to mature more quickly, accept responsibility more easily, and learn in the process some basic parenting and example-setting skills.

One of the best ways for students to learn responsibilities and how to act as a role model is to mentor younger students. This serves as a positive citizenship-building episode since it enhances the qualities of respect for others, respect for self, and responsibility and commitment.

Your Citizenship Team can effectively ensure that youth have a mentoring experience by meeting with school administrators to discuss a cross-age mentoring program. Describe the five experiences outlined below to sell them on the program. Be sure to point out that your overall goal is to enhance citizenship in the community through mentoring experiences. Many youth who desire to serve as mentors have probably already been exposed to mentors, so they already have a concept of what a role model is and the inherent responsibilities that are attached to that position. Each mentoring activity is designed so that any student can find his/her comfort level, and so that any younger student can find an activity of interest.

1. The Tutoring Experience for High School/Elementary School Students

It's necessary to expand our definition of tutoring to include non-academic subjects for this activity to be most effective and more inclusive. This opens the door for students who may not have strong academic skills to enjoy the same caliber of tutoring experience by focusing on a skill he or she has mastered, such as an athletic or fine arts skill.

It's important that time be allowed during the tutoring process for an informal get-acquainted period for participants. Similarly, free time should be built into the tutoring sessions so that the participants can effectively and naturally build up a symbiotic relationship.

Examples of the program: A high school student tutoring an elementary student in math or another subject; athlete teaching athletic skills, such as dribbling a basketball or proper kicking techniques; a student skilled in fine arts teaching a younger child a new song.

Frequency: Weekly or bi-weekly tutoring sessions in the appropriate skills category. This should occur on-site at the elementary school facility, if at all possible.

Duration: No more than one hour per session. Time should be based on younger child's age, with shorter time periods allotted for younger students.

Suggested Activity: The Fine Arts/Athletic Experience

Examples: Why he or she keeps physically fit; what it means to compete athletically or perform on stage; experiences the older student had while the same age as the student being tutored.

Frequency: Weekly or bi-weekly.

Duration: No more than one hour per session, preferably shorter.

Suggested Activity: "What I'm Going to Be When I Grow Up" Experience

Designed to help students think positively about their future, this activity often prompts high school students to set career goals higher when talking with younger people than with adults. Similarly, the younger child has an opportunity to play "what if" with the older student and have a conversation about their individual dreams for the future.

Frequency: Quarterly.

2. The Mentoring Experience for Middle/Junior High School Students

These activities take advantage of the relative closeness in age of the two groups and positions the high school student as the "expert" in a variety of subjects of interest to the younger student. In addition to the activities described above, consider the following:

Suggested Activity: "I Remember When..."

This activity allows the older student to interface directly with the younger student and tell him/her about personal experiences from his/her days at that grade level. To make this more stimulating, have the younger student write down a challenge he/she is presently experiencing in school. The high school student reads it and begins a dialogue that explains his or her feelings and reactions to what the student has written.

A similar activity is "What It's Like To..." allows the younger student to explore areas he or she may have regarding the high school experience.

Suggested Activity: The Hosting Experience

The younger student is invited to attend an event in which the mentor participates, the younger student is the guest of the mentor, and both get together after the event in an informal environment to discuss what happened. This activity gives the mentor the responsibility of being with someone and being positive.

Frequency: At least once per season or semester. However, this activity can be utilized as often as both parties feel comfortable with the experience and the results.

3. The Mentoring Experience for Adults and Students

The adult mentoring experience can be very effective with high school students. Adult mentors can be solicited directly from your Citizenship Team group, their friends, and colleagues. The very best kind of mentoring experience is simply spending time with the child. It is wise to match up a student's career choice or other interests with an adult who has similar interests or is in the student's career of choice.

Ideally, adult mentors provide students with citizenship-type experiences, such as attending civic group meetings or participating in community volunteer efforts. The key is to point out why they are involved in these community endeavors, what they believe the duties of citizenship are, and why they feel compelled to be good citizens.

Mentoring, regardless of age, is a rewarding responsibility that helps nurture good citizenship characteristics and values that are supported by the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance.