Members of Nicholls’ National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are mentoring students at East Thibodaux Middle School to promote good decision-making and assist in coping with life situations.Jasmine Simmons, government junior from New Orleans, came up with the idea to reach out to the community in the form of advising children at schools. Simmons presented her idea to the NAACP and to local schools. The principal of East Thibodaux Middle School was interested and met with her three times to discuss mentoring at the school, which began last January.
Simmons said the goal is to talk to students who are dealing with problems.
One of the mentors, Courney Carter, nursing sophomore from Thibodaux, said she speaks to the students about peer pressure and violence. Mariam Matteuzzi, mass communication sophomore from Thibodaux, said she and other mentors talk to the students about making school a priority and dealing with social and family situations to boost the child’s self-esteem.
The mentors are getting feedback from students, which show they made a big change, Simmons said. Some of the students told Simmons they appreciated the help the NAACP is offering.
“Half of the kids aren’t in it anymore; they’ve moved on to high school,” Simmons said. Most of the students still keep in touch with the group even though they have gone on to achieve their goals. “It seems like we’re having a positive effect,” Carter said. “One student told us we helped him avoid getting into five fights.”
Matteuzzi said the mentors have different reasons for offering their time, but many share a common motivation. “Some of the mentors had the same problems in middle school and high school.”
Simmons said many people could have used a mentor as students. “A lot of people say that in school they made some choices they shouldn’t have made, and they wish they had a person to be there, hang out one-on-one with, and show them how to make better choices.”
Simmons hopes to get more help, but said it is hard to find people with a schedule flexible enough to handle the dedication mentoring involves. It is difficult for college students because everyone has a different schedule, Simmons said.
NAACP members mentor at east Thibodaux Middle School for free, but hold fund-raisers to supports their projects. Simmons hopes to get t-shirts for the students and collared shirts for the mentors.
“Expansion to more schools is a possibility for the future, however, right now, we’re trying to firmly establish mentoring at this one school, since it is a relatively new program,” Matteuzzi said.
