Peer Mentors Make Transition to Boarding Schools Easier for Teens
By Leslie Davis
The first week at a new school can be scary and overwhelming for any student. If you have enrolled your children at a private boarding school, they may not only feel lost in their new surroundings, but they may also feel abandoned or angry, and resent the fact that they have to go to a new school away from their friends and family.
Boarding schools with a peer mentorship program can help make the transition easier for your children. When paired with students who have been at the boarding school for some time, your children may find it easier to adapt to and navigate in their new environment.
Research has shown that students who experience meaningful interactions with a peer mentor demonstrate greater motivation and academic success. According to the National Youth Network, a peer mentorship program can accomplish the following objectives:
- Improve the grades or other measures of academic performance of the youth being mentored.
- Improve school attendance for those being mentored.
- Reduce rates of truancy, suspension, expulsion and dropout.
- Improve mentored youth’s self-esteem and confidence.
- Teach mentors valuable communication skills.
- Teach mentors the importance of commitment and sensitize them to the needs, experiences and situations of other members of their community.
- Strengthen community ties by creating opportunities for youth to work with and learn from younger and older members of the community.
- Dispel or reduce stereotypes, misconceptions or fears that members of different age groups in the community may have held.
At Bromley Brook, a girls boarding school in Manchester Center, Vt., every girl enrolled at the school gets matched with a student mentor. Students themselves came up with the idea of a peer mentorship program several years ago, when they realized how helpful it would be for new students to have somebody to show them around and introduce them to people.
“The mentors serve as informal student big sisters to help the girls get acclimated to the program,” said Mary Jo Degrandi, MS, coordinator of special therapeutic programs at Bromley Brook. “They know that when you are brand new, it is hard to be away from home.”
Enrolling your teens in a boarding school may not be an easy decision for you or your children. A peer mentorship program can go a long way in helping you all feel you made the right decision:
An Easier Transition for Your Teen
A peer mentor can make the transition to boarding school easier on your teens by helping them adjust to a new school environment.
Peer mentors will introduce your children to other students, help them find their way to class and get them registered for activities. Your teens will immediately have another student who they can talk to and depend on, which can help them feel more comfortable and confident in their new surroundings.
Help Your Teen Resolve Problems
If your teens are used to turning to you or their closest friends when a problem arises, they may feel lonely or homesick without their usual support system when they first arrive at boarding school. Peer mentors provide friendship and support to your children so that they have someone they can turn to if they have any questions or concerns.
Because mentors are typically matched with new students based on common interests or backgrounds, it is likely that your teens will feel enough of a connection to their mentor to discuss their problems with them. If the mentorship eventually evolves into a friendship, this will be someone your teens can confide in during their time in boarding school.
Get Your Teen Involved on Campus
Most boarding schools offer students a lot of activities in which to get involved. A peer mentor can help your teens figure out which activities are best suited to them, or those that they would have the most fun doing. One of the good things about your teens having a mentor is that they won’t feel alone attending a school function or activity, since they will know at least one other student.
A Sense of Community
Nothing is more intimidating than walking into a classroom full of strangers on the first day of school. A mentorship program can create a sense of community at a boarding school so new students don’t feel like strangers. It is likely that events will be held to introduce all of the new students, and mentor/mentee events (such as dinners or movie nights) will be planned so students of all ages will socialize and get to know each other.
Provide Good Role Modeling
Students who are selected to be peer mentors are typically doing well at their boarding school. Your teens’ mentors can be good role models, demonstrating what it takes to excel at school and become involved.
Mentors also know what your teens are going through. While they may not be there for exactly the same reasons or have the same experiences, the mentors are able to understand your teens in a way that many others cannot. That allows them to offer guidance, advice and support based on what they have learned and experienced.
Bad Behaviors Reduced
According to the National Youth Network, youth involved in mentoring programs are less likely to experiment with drugs, be physically aggressive and skip school. They are also more likely to develop strength and self-confidence, which reduces their susceptibility to negative peer pressure.
A Positive Goal
If your children received peer mentors during their time at boarding school, they may want to become mentors themselves. This goal may give your teens something to work toward while at boarding school, providing an additional motivation to succeed.
Peer mentorship programs don’t only benefit the new students, but they also provide a growth opportunity for students who serve as mentors. Students who are trained as mentors learn such skills as effective communication, mediation, relationship building and positive peer guidance.
“Becoming a mentor builds such positive self-esteem and really gives students an opportunity to shine,” says Bromley Brook’s Degrandi.
When you are deciding on a boarding school for your teens, add peer mentoring to the list of things you ask about. If there is not a peer mentorship program at the boarding school your child will be attending, suggest it to staff. A peer mentorship program can help ensure that your teens adapt better to their new surroundings and have a more fulfilling boarding school experience.