By Mako Oshiro
Staff Writer
A mentor group is one important part of Summit Public Schools. A mentor group is a group of students who stick together all four years of high school; within the mentor group, the goal is to try to build community.
Kristy Chun, a freshman mentor and science teacher, said that her goal in building community in a mentor group is “to have each other’s backs and to get to know each other better.”
Ms. Chun said that the way she makes the mentor group achieve community goals is to “make sure that everyone is looking out for each other and being supportive to one another.”
One thing that she did was “organize a mentor group activity that not only focused on the objective of getting to know everyone but also is fun.”
Ms. Chun said that the way she comes up with activities is by “listening to everyone’s ideas of what they are interested in and have them come up with some suggestions.” Then, she said that she “finds ways around the ideas and suggestions to plan an activity.”
When trying to build community outside of the mentor group, she said, “We could do a volunteer day where we help out at a animal shelter or a cause that the mentees support.”
This shows that Ms. Chun is trying to have the mentor group not only build community only in the mentor group but also in the outside world. Therefore, Ms. Chun is building community in two ways.
Everest freshman Nico Levy said that this mentor group affected him because it gave him “a place to relax after a long day of school.”
Levy noted that coming to the mentor group made him feel “excited and warm because it was a place to build community.”
He said that the contribution he brings to the mentor group is humor, adding that he feels good about that contribution because he believes that it is “an important part of everyday life.”
When it comes to how Levy felt about the mentor group, he said, “It made him feel supported because it felt like he had a second family that would always support him.”
Everest freshman Ben Figone said the mentor group “helped him build connections with people.”
He said that a positive contribution he brought to the mentor group was “a willingness to help other students,” adding that makes him “feel happy because he could help his mentees and build connections with them.”
Finally, Figone said that being in this mentor group made him feel happy because “it was a place that had supportive people and was a very friendly environment.”
Featured image (at the top of this post): Kristy Chun and her mentees display their mentor group symbol, Pikachu, at the 2016 start of school camping trip. PHOTO CREDIT: Kristy Chun
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