Local high school students have something new to feel good about. In communities like Danbury and Ridgefield, teens with special talents in academics, athletics and the arts have new opportunities to become mentors to younger children.
Role Model Mentors,(rolemodelmentors.com), a start- up company based in Ridgefield, matches high achieving high schoolers with students in kindergarten through 8th grade. Mentors use their afternoons, evenings, and weekends to help younger students develop good homework habits, prepare for tests and plan ahead for school projects. Mentors also help elementary and middle school students learn new skills in their favorite sports, in music and in extracurricular topics such as coding and leadership.
“The idea is to develop authentic relationships between young kids and the older kids they naturally look up to”, says Tim Boylan, founder of Role Model Mentors. “The tutoring and skills development are great. But it’s also about demonstrating what good character looks like.”
Sheila D’Angelo, Danbury resident and parent of 5th grade twins Caroline and Katherine, is a big fan of the company, “We have had such a positive experience with Role Model Mentors. At first, I was concerned as how to best fit this into a schedule that is already hectic. I am so glad that we did. Our mentor, Rebecca is fabulous. Rebecca is an honor student, an accomplished athlete on varsity basketball and most important, a really good person. Rebecca shares real life experiences of what middle school will be like, the importance of being organized and working hard in school. It has definitely had a positive impact. My daughters are more focused on organization and are receptive to concept of working hard pays off, because they see how successful their mentor is.”
To learn more about Role Model Mentors, visit rolemodelmentors.com or call 1-800-485-6013