The Belding Area Schools mentorship program is actively recruiting community volunteers as demand from students far exceeds the number of available mentors.
Currently, only 10 students are actively enrolled in the program, but many more remain on a waiting list for the chance to be paired with a mentor.
"I have a list of students that could benefit from this right now," said Jennifer Lien, Belding Area Schools Mentorship Program Director and Co-Founder. "I'm just waiting for mentors to come through the training so that I can start pairing them up."
The program was placed on pause following the pandemic and organizers are now working to rebuild participation to pre-COVID levels.
For Belding High School 10th grader Makenzie Wilson, who joined the program as a freshman, she explains her mentorship with Lien has become a highlight of her week.
"I realized that it's been a big benefit in my life," Wilson said. "I look forward to seeing her like, this my favorite part of the week."
The program requires less than an hour of commitment per week. Mentors visit their assigned students during the school day to simply spend time together and talk.
"They can talk about school, their friends, their day, their weekend, their home life. It's the gamut is widespread," Lien said.
Program co-founder Kamie Jakeway explained that the consistent weekly meetings help students develop a sense of stability.
"When you meet with somebody week after week, you do start to build a level of trust with somebody," Jakeway said.
As the program works to expand, organizers emphasize the critical need for more volunteers.
"As many mentors that we can possibly get would be the very best for our school system," Lien said.
Training for prospective mentors will be held Wednesday from 7 to 8 p.m. at Belding High School. If you're looking to reach out to program organizers you can email mentor@bas-k12.org.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
