Cootamundra High School have been approached by a new organisation called Together 4 Youth, to provide a series of mentoring programs to students in 2022.
The first program will begin its trial in term one, where various year eight students will be matched up with a mentor.
The program, named Raise, focuses on raising the aspirations of students and helping them realise their potential.
The sessions will run every week for an hour, for a total 23 weeks after students are matched with a mentor, over terms two and three.
Together 4 Youth are currently recruiting mentors from the Cootamundra community to work one on one with up to fifteen students at Cootamundra High School.
Andrew Turvey, General Manager for Together 4 Youth said that anyone can apply to become a mentor.
“Mentors from our community will undergo a training program prior to commencement, to ensure that the mentors are able to deliver the high standards required of raise, and more importantly able to deliver best practice mentoring to our students,” he said.
Cootamundra High School is looking forward to holding these mentoring sessions, and Head Teacher of Wellbeing and Engagement, Cath Alderman, encourages the community to get involved.“
There are so many strong role models in the community who would be great for this program,” she said.
“If you are interested in mentoring a young person for an hour a week, you will help year eight students that are chosen by us, set some goals and give them some direction in the world.”
The Raise program has been successful in schools around the country, and Andrew says that mentors have been from a variety of age demographics.
“Mentors have included young people still studying in university/TAFE, parents of young children, employed people as part of a workplace giving pro-gram and retirees,” he said.
If you are interested in becoming a mentor with Raise, and volunteering some of your time to mentor the children of Cootamundra High School, you can do so by scanning the QR code displayed on the flyer.
Rebecca More