WEBVTT

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[Music]

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Narrator: We asked these four
freshmen at Davis High School

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to tell us about the
ninth-grade mentoring program,

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how it has helped them, and
their advice for mentors.

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Alexis: The ninth-grade
mentoring program

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at Davis is basically a program

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where the teachers help the
students if they are failing

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or if they are missing class.

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They let them know and they tell
them, "You know, you need to go

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to class" or "You're failing
math class" or something,

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and they keep you on track.

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Taylor: The ninth-grade
mentoring program is also

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where students can go
to talk to their mentors

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about problems they might be
having at home or at school.

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It helps with your schoolwork.

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It helps you get back on
track if you fall off.

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It helps you pick
up your grades.

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They make sure you
get the class on time.

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They basically are just a
big help for everything.

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Sydney: The way that the
mentor program has helped me,

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it has helped me because now
that I am in high school,

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I am on honor roll, I
am passing my classes.

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In middle school, I was behind
a little bit; now I am on top.

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It helped my classes to make
sure I go to all classes

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on time, not missing
no days of school.

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Monica: My mentor, she
helped me with my grades.

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Every time they drop, she
tells me, sometimes she stays

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after school to help
me bring my grades up.

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It's a great thing
having a mentor

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because the person is there

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for you every time
you need her or him.

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It's a great thing.

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Taylor: My mentor has helped
me my ninth-grade year

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by helping me be
more responsible

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because I have learned,
he's talked to me

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and taught me how I have to be
on top of my work in everything.

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Every time someone is not going
to always be there and say,

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"You have to make sure,
you have to do this."

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I will go to him and I will
ask him, "Can I see my grades?"

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Or I will go and he
will tell me, "Okay,

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you need to get some work
from another teacher."

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He has helped me be more
responsible on my own.

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Monica: I was asking
my mentor to help me

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on my math homework, on algebra.

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She was like, "Okay,
I can stay today,

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and we need to stay
all the time you want

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so I can help you
pass your test."

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And she stayed with me
for an hour and a half

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and we were studying, and then

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after that I passed my
test and I was so happy.

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Taylor: When I first
started the ninth grade,

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I felt like I didn't really
have to do anything that much,

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because it was just
the ninth grade.

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So I kind of started
slacking off

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and then my grades went down.

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And then my mentor, he would
always come to me, he was like,

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"Why you are making this grade?

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You can do better than that."

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And I didn't like
him because I feel

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like he was just always
bothering me always,

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always bugging me.

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I was like, "Why is
he being mean to me?"

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And then once he started
telling me that I can do better

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and I improved my
grades, I realized it was

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because he cared, and he knew
I can do better and I knew,

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but he told me that
I have to know

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that I can do good
myself before I can do it,

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and that helped me a lot.

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Alexis: If I could give
advice to a mentor or somebody

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that wants to be a mentor,
I would say the student has

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to have trust with that mentor.

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Compassion is another
good thing.

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Also being stern with
that person, you know,

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you can't always just be
lenient, "Oh, it's okay."

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Some students or kids need that.

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Monica: Well, any advice I can
give to any person that wants

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to be a mentor is
being a good role model

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for that person you
want to mentor,

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being there for that person when
they need you and treating them

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like your own kid, being there
for them when they need you,

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help them bring their grades up,
and if they have any problems,

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trying to help them resolve
those problems they have.

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Sydney: Treat us as their own,
like we [are] their own child,

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just be on it like she is
her own child, stay on them

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to make sure we are
passing our grades,

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to make sure we are doing
what we got to do to pass,

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go to class on time,
not missing days,

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go to after-school activities.

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Taylor: A mentor should be
someone that we can trust,

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someone that we feel comfortable
taking any of our problems to.

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If they come to us and just
asking, "How was your day?"

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and just keep talking to us and
telling us things that we want

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to hear, knowing they want
to hear from us and want

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to see us do better
would make us

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to be able to open up to them.

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[Music]