Last Thursday Ms. Peterson’s sixth grade class appeared to miscomprehend a lesson on “tact” as their situational examples produced more laughs than check marks from the teacher and a guest mentor.
But their rather antithetical illustrations of “tact” and personal reflections on the subject revealed that they actually had absorbed the lesson.
“It was cool – the way they taught us about tact,” said Eugene Cannon, a student at Fairview Intermediate School, next door to Fairview Primary School, which also participates in the program.
“We learned how to talk to people and be more respectful,” Cannon said, adding that the mentors gave them “people to look up to.”
Those people were political officeholders, civic leaders, doctors, business owners, attorneys and clergymen, who participate in the Special Friends Extended Program in the Jennings School District.
These successful professionals visit the school three times a year, serving as role models and promoting positive values through the Character-Plus Program.
Mentors start the day eating breakfast with their respective mentees, who then take their mentors to their classrooms.
There, the mentor talks to the entire class on a pre-determined subject, usually the word of the month for the schools.
This subject for the day was “tact.”
“When I’m arguing a client’s case, I may think the judge is missing the point, but if I say, ‘That’s stupid,’ I may lose the case,” attorney Frank Levy told Ms. Peterson’s class.
“There is a better way to explain. We get better results when we look at the positive.”
Of mentoring, Levy said, “People like to help very smart kids, so it’s very little sacrifice and you never know when you will do or say something that will mean something.”
City of St. Louis License Collector Mike McMillan, another mentor, said he is honored to participate.
“It’s important to give back to our young people and provide them with all of the knowledge we have been given to assist them as they develop into the leaders of the future,” McMillan said.
McMillan said he views his work with the program as a continuation of a St. Louis Public Schools mentoring program in which he participates.
The need for mentors
McMillan and Levy are just two of 35 mentors who are friends of Holly Cousins, a kindergarten teacher at Jennings Primary School, who started the program.
“I just called friends and asked if they would like to mentor, and they were like, ‘Sign me up,’” she said.
She said her husband – attorney Steve Cousins, a partner at Armstrong Teasdale – was the first person she asked. Of course, he agreed.
Even a partial list of the program’s mentors reads like a roll call of the powerful and influential: former Gov. Bob Holden, RCGA President Dick Fleming, state Sen. Rita Days, Comptroller Darlene Green, American publisher Dr. Donald M. Suggs, Webster University Business Dean Benjamin Akande and local entrepreneurs Tony Thompson of KWAME Building Group and Sharilyn Franklin of FUSE Advertising.
“Mentoring helps our young people develop their full potential, and that’s something I’m delighted to be involved with,” said Comptroller Green.
Holly Cousins said the need for mentors across the country is great
She first founded the Special Friends Program 12 years ago. It initially consisted of teachers and staff who mentored one child throughout the year, but Cousins saw benefits in bringing in outside mentors.
“They see us every day, so it adds another twist,” said Cousins, who started the Special Friends Extend Program just this year.
The initiative is meant to build good character and influence students to strive to be good, self-motivated citizens.
As an incentive to these goals, which includes zero fights and good grades, students who maintain a C-plus average or better get to go shopping at the Character Store for toys.
“Second quarter showed how the grades are starting to rise,” she said.
Cousins said she wants to include junior high and high school in the program.
“We really need it in the junior and high schools because so many of them are driven by popular culture, which isn’t always good, so they need positive professionals from their own communities,” Cousins said.
The mentors visit the school in October, February and May.
“They need to come in more than once and show the kids that they care so they can buy into it,” Cousins said. “So they come back and ask about their grades and home life.”