With the unacceptable dropout rate, gang violence, and crime in Palm Beach County, mentoring and tutoring are powerful strategies to provide personal and supportive contacts for our youth.  

Your influence can help build a foundation of basic values and encourage students to take responsibility for their actions.  They can begin to set goals and understand the importance of staying in school. Mentors are role models for students, demonstrating the importance of values such as being accountable, dependable, and trustworthy. A student is impressed and influenced far more by your example than by your words.

By building self-confidence and positive character traits, students will have a better chance of staying in school and having a productive role in the community. As a mentor, you can share your experiences with a student and show them a new world of possibilities. As a tutor, you can give personalized attention to a student who is struggling academically.

Any responsible adult who is willing to share time on a consistent basis can become a mentor or tutor.  The mentor or tutor will show the student that someone cares about them and wants them to stay in school.  You will become a friend and a role model to a student who may not otherwise have an adult to guide and direct their actions. This will help them make healthy choices that are critical to their future success.

A mentor commits to working with a student at school during the school year. A mentor should create a schedule for meeting with the child to develop a good mentor-student relationship.  We encourage helping the student with schoolwork if you are comfortable doing so, but often the student just needs someone who will listen and provide encouragement.

A tutor commits to working with a student at school during the school year.  A tutor may read with a child whose reading skills are below grade level, review materials that a child does not understand, or work with a child on new material. All tutors are trained in the principles of mentorship so that a relationship of trust and support can be established.

All mentoring and tutoring is done on the school campus, usually in the library, cafeteria, classroom, or the outside central quad area.

Sessions take place during school hours.  A schedule is arranged between you and the school’s volunteer coordinator to establish the best time for you and the student to meet.