Middle school mentoring program has doubled in participants

Once a month, 50 middle school students meet with their adult mentors in the Eudora Middle School library. Students play games, eat breakfast, talk and catch up with their mentors.

The Cardinals LinkUP Mentoring Program is a way for students to connect with adults in their community. The goal is to provide students with more adult role models to achieve personal, academic and career exploration. Mentors are meant to be friends, resources and guides. 

The program was spearheaded by the Eudora Schools Foundation but has been embraced and supported by the school district, organizer and Eudora Schools Foundation board member Robby Giffin said. 

Mentors range from community members, parents with kids in the district, law enforcement officers, teachers and board members. Some mentors have had students finish school but stayed around because of the value they see in this program, Giffin said. 

The more adults these students have in their lives, the more well-rounded they will be, Giffin said. 

Organizer and Eudora Schools Foundation board member Candace Dunback said the program helps kids match their passions with an adult and be around all kinds of individuals. 

“It’s a unique opportunity to bring all kinds of kids together,” Dunback said. 

At the beginning of the school year, participants filled out a survey to match mentors and mentees based on general and career interests. 

“One of the things the school district has been good at, and the foundation has been good at, is creating connections. For me, it’s an opportunity for connections. It’s an opportunity to bring the community into the school but also to bring the schools to the community and facilitate those connections between students and teachers and the community,” Giffin said. 

The group has doubled in size since it started four years ago, Giffin said.

“The ultimate goal is we would love to start this at the high school as well, so the mentor and mentee can kind of move up,” Giffin said. 

At the beginning of the school year, mentors were provided with some guiding questions to open conversation but that is no longer necessary, he said. 

“We had to bring it all back together because the mentors and mentees naturally just started talking, which is great. That’s what we want,” Giffin said. 

Michael White sees his mentee, Landon Springer, each Wednesday at his church’s youth group. White tries to provide Springer with another male role model and emphasized the importance of kids having another male role model beyond a dad. 

“I hate to use the word preaching, but if I’m saying the same things as far as what parents are saying, as far as being a good role model, getting good grades, excel, then all of a sudden it doesn’t seem as if mom and dad are weirdos,” White said. “You never know whether they have male role models or just role models period.”

Fred Ramirez got involved with the mentoring program after working as a school resource officer in the school district. By participating, Ramirez feels he gets a friend to talk to. 

“I was coming in as a law enforcement officer and I just was hoping to connect in that aspect of okay, connect with a student and let them know that we’re still human,” Ramirez said. “We’re people and we just want to hang out and talk just like anybody else does.”

Mentee Caden Dunback thinks the relationships he has built have been the biggest takeaway of the program. 

Dunback said he learned about “healthy relationships with adults.” 

“People to talk to, if I’m like having a rough week or something,” he said. 

Mentee Jude Whalen has learned the importance of getting advice from adults. 

“Just to be nice and don’t get in trouble in school and stuff,” Whalen said. 

Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected]