SPOKANE, Wash. — Mentors and volunteers with Communities in Schools of Spokane County (CISSC) are celebrating the program’s 10th year of mentoring at-risk youth.
The program is tailored to students who might need additional support in school to help them graduate on time.
CISSC is in 15 elementary, middle and high schools around Spokane County, with site coordinators, mentors and volunteers working to keep children in school and connecting them to outside resources.
“We get the opportunity to serve students in different ways to support their education,” said Rebecca Clemens, the program’s director. “This gives our teachers time to focus on academics, and we can find that support and services that (the students) need.”
CISSC collects donations to pass out to mentees and others around the communities. It is also a partner with KREM2’s annual Tools2Schools back-to-school donation drive.
Aliyah Beaudry attends North Central High School and got involved with the program during her freshman year.
One of the program’s mentors asked Beaudry to come to one of her mentoring sessions because of the student’s dropping grades. Aliyah said she chose not to listen to the mentor’s advice but by the end of the year had failed her classes.
Two years later, at the beginning of her junior year, the mentor reached out to Beaudry, advising her again to come to one of her sessions.
“I (thought), ‘Oh, I have time. It’s just the beginning of the year,” Aliyah said.
But at the end of the semester, she found out she was failing her chemistry class. Beaudry said the mentor stayed consistent and continued reaching out to her.
Beaudry then decided to take her advice and started meeting with the mentor and attending after school programs to help her raise her grades.
By the end of the year, passed all of her classes and said she also started seeing significant changes in her personality.
“[My mentor] helped me a lot,” she said. “I was in a rough spot at the beginning of junior year, but I decided to take [her] advice and stay after school and do the programs that would help me get my grades up.”
Beaudry is now an intern with CISSC. She said now that she is more focused in school, she wants to follow in her mentor’s footsteps and become a social worker.
Shamerica Nakamura is Beaudry’s mentor.
“When I think about my childhood, I always think about that one adult who made a difference in my life,” Nakamura said. “When I’m working on a day-to-day basis, I try to be that adult for our students. And if I’m not that adult, I want to find that adult they do feel comfortable disclosing what’s going on at home.”
On Feb. 23, CISSC is hosting a Blue Jean Ball Fundraiser to collect donations for the program.
To donate or get involved with the fundraiser, visit the Blue Jean Ball website.