Monday, July 3, 2006

Education Ministry's Chief Officer Angela Martins presents a programme certificate to Mark Lopez.  Lopez is joined by Coaching for Success coordinator Nat King, student Duwayne Lumsden, mentor Andrea Stephens, student Glenda Solan, mentor Thiry Gordon, and mentor Tristan Relly.

Angela Martins, Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, had the pleasure of handing out thirty certificates of completion to the participants of this years Coaching for Success Programme at John Gray High School at a special luncheon held in their honour this past week.

The programme that culminated after six months paired adult mentors with high school students for one-on-one guidance and personal development.

Offering her congratulations and encouragement to the recipients, as well as their teachers and adult coaches, Mrs Martins expressed that she intends to also participate as a Performance Coach (mentor) in the new school term.

The John Gray year 11 students (who were also celebrating the ending of their penultimate high school year) were being lauded for their dedication to the coaching scheme. Once adult volunteers were signed up, two days of in-depth training were held in January, and each adult was matched with a student.

Following that, the students and Performance Coaches met at the school once each week.
For friends and family members attending the awards luncheon, seeing the students awarded their certificates served as a reminder that sometimes the difference between an excelling student, and a failing student is often determined by the amount of support that student receives.

"I've seen a lot of improvement since the programme started.  Rayvon shows a lot more interest in schoolwork now, and he is calmer, not as agitated as he was," said Jessie Schmid, grandmother of Rayvon Rankine

Mrs. Schmid also had another reason to be proud when she learned that her grandson has successfully secured summer employment in the law firm of his mentor Laura Hatfield. 
Attorney Dorothy Scott, said she was similarly pleased at the progress of her assigned student - Niko McField.

"His grades are improving and that's something Niko can be proud of.  This particular school year group was very much affected by Ivan, and I realize now that they faced more challenges than I did," commented Ms Scott.

Noting that the coaching project's success comes from "the students solving their own issues pro-actively," Ms Scott said, "It's not as important as you'd think to develop a personal relationship with the student; more important is motivating them to set goals for themselves."

For that skill, she applauded the initial training sessions.

For programme participant Mark Lopez, the initial thought of teaming up with an adult mentor was not exactly his idea of a grand adventure. But as the programme wore on, Mr Lopez found that his whole life started to take on new meaning.

"I was failing biology, but with my coach's (Tristan Kelly) assistance I passed the last test, and did quite well in the end-of-year test," said Mr Lopez.  Explaining that he has few adult male role models, he added that his mother - a single parent - encouraged him to relate to the mentor from the start.  "As a result, she was pleased when she saw my grades improving," Mr Lopez said proudly.  Mr Lopez also commented that as a Cadet Corps member, he has seen his academic success spillover into his performance with that group, as well.

Congratulating all involved, Coaching for Success coordinator Nat King said, "This personal development initiative has been held at John Gray over the past three years.  The ethos of the programme is to give students extra support through the training, through small and whole group meetings with teachers, and through mentoring with community volunteers to work towards achieving education goals set by each student."

Mr King was proud to announce that whereas the awards ceremony usually marks the end of the programme, this year, a number of the students, as well as coaches, have expressed their desire to resume their participation into the next academic year.

Encouraging other volunteers to become a part of the emotional village that mentorship provides, for Ms Scott, the end result is as much of a gift to the mentor as it is to the mentee.

"You'd be surprised at the impact you can make.  Not all students will go to 'Straight A's', but most have tremendous talent and intelligence, and are simply not having their energies focused," continued Ms Scott. 

"There's been a lot of publicity regarding negative incidents lately, but it is up to us to give a few hours each month to make a positive difference.  I did this on my own time, and it's perfectly possible for anyone to give one lunch hour each week for a few months." 

To learn more about the John Gray High School Coaching for Success Programme, contact Nat King at 925-6120.

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