The Fault in Our Freshmen
This year, the Freshmen Mentor program was dismantled, and the effects that can come from that could be detrimental.
Walking into South this year, most students noticed that a lot of physical features in the school have changed. There’s a new cafeteria, entrance, library and of course the tardy tables. Something that was missing that perhaps many students didn’t notice was that there was no longer a freshman mentor program.
Through all the commotion, this dismantlement was swept under the rug due to shock and fascination.
Youth who meet regularly with their student mentors are 46 percent less likely than the rest of their peers to start using illegal drugs and 27 percent less likely to start underage drinking, according to a study by Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Last year at South, we had 35 drug cases that were reported to the state prosecutor. 23 cases were from the first semester alone, according to Officer Matt Westrich. What’s worse is that a vast majority of them were from freshmen. These incredibly high numbers were when we had FANS mentors, so imagine the numbers without them.
Not having a FANS program this year will cause an unpredictable ricochet of health and social problems for the current and future freshmen.
According to Big Brothers Big Sisters’ nationwide statistics, students who meet regularly with their mentors are 52 percent less likely than their other peers to skip a day of school and 37 percent less likely to skip class.
The program wasn’t slashed because there wasn’t enough passion in the mentors; on the contrary, most of the FANS loved making connections with the new freshmen. Maya Yildirim, senior (STUCO president) and Annie Buckles, senior, developed a close bond with their mentees and even drove them places.
As a mentor, one of the responsibilities is to become someone that the freshmen can turn to during social or educational struggles, a student counselor if you will.
Their job is to be approachable and a role model for those who maybe don’t have an adult to turn to.
Last year, I had to the opportunity to help one of my freshmen who had a friend who was dealing with sexual harassment. Since I couldn’t help deal with situation myself, I gave them advice to tell their friend and gave them a list of trustworthy adults to talk to at South.
Before becoming a FAN, you are trained on how to handle difficult social situations. One learns how to talk to a student about their depression, anxiety, bullying, drama or family issues. Who will they turn to when there isn’t a trained peer who is able to assist them?
According to Mentoring Impact, young adults who were at risk for falling off the track, but had a mentor were way more likely to volunteer regularly, hold leadership positions, and become mentors themselves. It is extremely detrimental for our school to not encourage these statistics.
To the freshmen this year: I apologize for the lack of positive peer guidance you will receive, and I hope that you will be able to defy the statistics and be a role model class for the next to come.
To the school administration: I have to say there was a lot of disappointment amongst the upperclassmen who were FANS last year. Without any positive peer guidance, South can only hope that the freshman class will be able to make the right choices.
