Mentors are the heart of the Youth Support Program. Every year YSP recruits 100 volunteer mentors to work with students at Willard Middle School. In addition to providing social, behavioral, and academic support to the Willard Students, mentors offer mentees life enhancing enrichment opportunities.

I have been surprised by how my mentee has really opened up my ability to see what it means to be important to someone. It took me a long time to see that I wasn't going to get direct confirmation of the importance of our relationship to her and not interpret that as a failure. I have been able to see subtle signs of my impact with her and to see myself as important. I was surprised that a) We've been a pair for so long as I didn't think she liked me and b) that I can walk away knowing the time I spent with her made some kind of difference. I think when I came in, I had a very specific view of what it meant to be a mentor, that success as a mentor meant some kind of Hallmark-card, easily compartmentalized list of attributes, conversations, and events, but now I am able to see the myriad of different kinds of mentoring relationships and know mine is impactful as well. This is what I will take with my from this program: a more free idea of what it means to be a mentor and the expanded possibility of what it means to be important to somebody.

I joined the Youth Support Program in the beginning of my sophomore year at Cal. When I first joined the program, I came in with a lot of expectations of myself. I planned to change the life of a student. I was going to boost my mentee's grades like no other person could. I was going to be the mentor that I wish I had when I was in middle school. When I met my mentee and started to work with him, I quickly found out that I was expecting something from myself that I could not really provide. I was not going to completely change his life, it was going to take a lot more time and care for that. I was not going to boost his grades overnight. I was not going to be the perfect mentor. Fortunately, what I also found out was that this was not what the Youth Support Program was all about. I was brought into the program to try my best to be a presence of love and to serve as a role model. If I managed to change my mentee's life, his character, and boost his grades, that would truly be awesome. The Youth Support Program really stressed the fact that I wasn't expected to be perfect, because nobody is. The key was to be all there for my mentee and to try my best to serve as a good mentor. A year and a half later, I am here to say that I'm still not the perfect mentor. My mentee is still the same kid I met a while back, except that he has gotten stronger and older. I was not able to raise his grades to a superb level. However, we have gotten closer to each other and I'd like to say that he is my mentee, my little brother, and my friend. He trusts me like an older brother and I am thankful for that. I hope to continue with the program because it is very hard to leave something that you have grown to love. Thank you Y.S.P!

Here at Cal, I am a Development Studies major, so in my field we are constantly learning about the work that is going on around the world. YSP has been a way for me to get involved in the community that affects us most and yet is often so far removed from our lives on campus--the one right here at Willard on the Oakland/Berkeley border. The program has not only given me the opportunity to be a part of the learning process of my wonderful mentee, but it has also been a great learning experience for me as well. Working with parents, teachers and the students themselves has given me a better understanding of the issues that face our community as well as the creative ways that we are meeting these challenges.
One of my favorite parts of the program is cooking with my mentee in Willard's nutrition program. The program teaches kids how to eat healthfully using local and seasonal ingredients, including some grown right here by the students in Willard's garden! Sitting in on classes I get to see the strategies that teachers use to engage students, while at the same time providing individual attention for my mentee. I often work one-on-one with Sally at lunch and after school to help her become better prepared for both her classes and for her future goals. I enjoy going to the middle school basketball games and shooting hoops at lunch. Dawn and Parijat, the program coordinators have provided amazing support throughout the process. YSP does an amazing job of getting the Cal campus more involved in the things they can do right here in the community, and my goal in turn has been to get the kids more involved in campus life--in activities and academic achievement at Willard and also looking ahead to high school and college success.

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