By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
 |
| Jill Oshiro, 22, looks over the shoulder of Chiyong Han, a 14-year-old eighth-grader at St. Andrew’s Priory, while Han does her science studies. A teacher by day, Oshiro also manages to make time to mentor a 9-year-old girl with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu.
Gregory Yamamoto• The Honolulu Advertiser |
Jill Oshiro gets as she gives.
Commitment, discipline, balance: These are just a sampling of what the 22-year-old learns as a mentor.
But what she gives to the 9-year-old girl with whom she spends almost every Saturday goes beyond time-management skills and work ethic.
"She has matured into a person who is bright and confident," said Oshiro, a teacher of English as a second language at St. Andrew’s Priory. "I’ve seen her true self really flourish and grow. She’s outgoing and personable."
The impact mentoring has on young people, especially those at risk of dropping out of school or running into trouble, was the reason Oshiro signed up to be a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu’s school-based program six years ago. She was then a student at St. Andrew’s Priory.
The experience was so rewarding for her that, after graduation, she returned to the organization as a one-on-one mentor. She spends four hours a week with her "little sister," taking her to cultural festivals, movies, mini-golf, even Ice Palace. After so much time together, the two have become like real-life sisters, laughing, talking and sharing together. Oshiro even e-mails the child’s mother regularly.
"It’s a two-way learning experience," said the Waipahu resident. "You really do learn more about yourself and what you can handle."
This is why the Hawai‘i Mentoring Initiative, started last year, is pushing mentoring in the community.
"There’s a lot of research showing that if you develop mentoring programs, it’s positive for youth," said Michael Casey, program director of the initiative.
Supported by America’s Promise Hawai‘i and financed by the state Department of Health’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division, the Hawai‘i Mentoring Initiative has begun the daunting challenge of marketing mentorships and providing support for existing organizations that offer mentoring opportunities, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu and the Boys & Girls Club of Hawai‘i.
The initiative is modeled after a similar program in California, called the California Mentor Foundation, "except there, the government gave them $13 million and created a state department," Casey said. "Here, it’s a strategy to prevent substance abuse, targeted at creating mentors for youth to give them the ability to resist drugs."
Despite its specific purpose, the program’s focus on fostering mentors in Hawai‘i will go beyond getting kids to "Just Say No."
"We find it (mentoring) a real benefit to the young people," said David Nakada, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Hawai‘i, a not-for-profit youth-guidance organization with more than 5,000 youth members and six clubhouses in the state.
Benefits long-lasting
Studies and statistics have backed that notion.
According to the National Mentoring Partnership, an advocate for the expansion of mentoring and a national resource for mentors, 14 million children in the United States need or want mentors.
A 1993 study by Big Brothers Big Sisters of America found that students who meet regularly with their mentors are 52 percent less likely than their peers to skip a day of school and 37 percent less likely to skip a class. They are also 46 percent less likely than their peers to start using illegal drugs and 27 percent less likely to start drinking. They are also one-third less likely to hit someone.
Fifty-nine percent of mentored teens get better grades after mentoring begins, and 73 percent of them raise their goals.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hono-lulu evaluates its community- and school-based programs every six months, and has found that mentoring builds confidence, broadens perspectives and nurtures a caring attitude toward others.
"They feel capable of doing things, willing to try new things," said Rosemarie Uyehara, program services director for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu. "We have seen an increase (in those three areas)."
The success of mentoring programs has helped increase financing for existing and new programs that are designed to empower and educate young people, particularly at-risk teens.
Plans for training center
Volunteers and mentors are always in high demand.
"The needs really outweigh the resources and bodies available," Nakada said.
The Hawai‘i Mentoring Initiative hopes to help.
It has met two of its goals already: launching an ad campaign to recruit mentors and setting up a statewide referral hotline with Ask Aloha United Way for people who want to become mentors.
But Casey is working on meeting the final two goals of developing a training center or institute for mentors and helping to create new or enhance existing programs, and encouraging them to work together.
He hopes a training center will attract - and keep - mentors.
"Often people don’t become a mentor because they don’t think they’re good enough or can’t do the job," Casey said. "So we’re preparing a training program to teach them about working with kids and being a good mentor."
While there is a need for mentors of all ages, from all walks of life, the Hawai‘i Mentoring Initiative is currently targeting college students.
The Atherton YMCA, across the street from the University of Hawai‘i-Manoa, reinforces that plan. College students, Casey said, may have more time to give to mentoring and may still be idealistic about improving the community.
Next, the initiative will target senior citizens, who have a wealth of knowledge to share and, often, the time to do it.
But matching mentors to organizations is not necessarily a question of age and experience.
Some organizations are looking for mentors who can work after school hours. Others need tutors. All of them want mentors who are interested in developing a personal relationship - friendship, even - with these children and teens.
The commitment is often what deters people from applying.
"Everyone is so caught up in their own lives that it’s hard to take a couple of hours of their week to devote to someone else," Oshiro said. "But it’s very fun. You not only get to know about this other person, but you also help in their own development, help them become a better person. And you’re not only teaching them, but they’re teaching you as a mentor. You’re learning about yourself."
Advocates claim that mentoring can make a difference in a child’s life. "There’s a real calming process that happens when the youngster has someone who cares about them," Nakada said, "someone that is now spending that kind of quality time with them. You come to the realization that you really are shaping a young person’s life."
Want to mentor?
Here is a list of local agencies that are looking for mentors:
These Web sites tell about the national efforts to expand programs:
Did you know?
The term "mentor" comes from Homer’s "Odyssey."
When Odysseus made his epic journey around the world, he left his friend, Mentor, in charge of the education of his son, Telemachus.
Thus, mentors have come to be defined as experienced teachers, counselors, role models and friends to those seeking help and guidance.
[back to top] |
The Great Index to Fun