Asbury Park High School has struggled for years with low standardized test scores and high dropout rates. But a new mentoring program is trying to make sure the students have positive role models to help lead them down the right path.
30 students were paired with mentors from the community this past school year. The students were mostly freshmen and they had to get parental permission.
The mentors were community members who were as young as 25 and as old as 81. They had to undergo background checks, meet with school officials and agree to mentor a child for at least a year, but hopefully until they graduated.
There are different levels of mentoring. Some mentors met with their student during the school day on the school grounds, while others met with their student after school in the community. The program also tries to match students up with mentors who have jobs that the teens are considering pursuing in the future.
"The goal is basically to just give our students an additional caring adult who can kind of be an advocate, a cheerleader, a guide, just a friend basically, said Sheldon Sanders, the health and Social Services Coordinator at Asbury Park High School.
Sanders says the adults also benefit from the mentor program because they feel good about giving back to their community.
By: Janet Fried
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