Clark Elementary kids get mentoring help

Fourth-graders Indigo Mims and Kevin Townson hope to meet new people and learn new things from their high school mentors.

ROTC students from Soldan International High School will provide the mentoring in special, once-a-month programs. They will work with fourth graders from Clark Accelerated Elementary School. The two schools are across the street from each other on Union Blvd. in the city.

This is the first Leadership Education Achievement Partnership (LEAP) mentoring program in St. Louis city schools.

The International Leadership Network (ILN) started LEAP mentoring in the Rockwood School District in 1998. ILN is the organization that also runs the Young Achievers program.

Young Achievers are elementary, middle and high school students who get special recognition for community service. (Young Saint Louis.com completed a series of eight profiles on 2002 Young Achievers. The stories ran from June, 2002, to January, 2003.)

Soldan senior Erica Nicole Williams is the leader of the Soldan ROTC students. She said the high school students want to be "big brothers and big sisters" to the Clark kids.

"We want them to be able to come to us for help," she said.

At their regular meetings, Soldan kids will have a different theme each month. Erica said they will work with the Clark kids on subjects "such as self-respect, self-control, responsibility and trust."

Soldan's Air Force Junior ROTC students will fit that role well. Junior Guankita Morris is in her third year of ROTC. She said her high school training has taught her "discipline, leadership and responsibility."

Erica said the LEAP mentoring isn't an academic program. But, some of the Clark kids are hoping they will get some help with homework.

Nine-year-old Indigo Mims wants to meet new people but she also wants help with her spelling and math. Ten-year-old Kevin Townson said he's already good at math but needs help with social studies.

Ten-year-old Aaron Romas also wants help with social studies. He said he wants to know more about "the presidents and about civil rights."

He said he's doing well in science and math. "I got 99 in my last science test and 92 in my last math test," he said.

Soldan junior Matthew Sheftel said he hopes to "help out the younger kids and teach them things about life." He said he had an older sister to help him learn things when he was younger.

"I want to help the kids learn what to expect from life. Also, they need to know they have to work hard to reach their goals," he said.

The younger kids already have some lofty goals for their lives. Indigo has a lot of career goals, from being an astronaut to being a doctor and a writer.

Kevin wants to be a "games engineer," writing programs for PlayStation2 games. Aaron hopes to go to the Harvard Law School. He said, "Maybe the high school kids can help me plan for that."

The Soldan kids may well have some career advice since they are planning for college right now.

Erica said her leadership in the mentoring program is helping prepare her for her chosen field. She wants to be an elementary school teacher. As for college, she's looking at Missouri Baptist, Southeast Missouri State or University of Missouri-Columbia.

Matthew plans to be an architect. He wants to go to either MIT or "some college overseas." He said he especially likes German and French architecture because their styles are "more extravagant and experimental."

Guankita said, "I've always wanted to be a doctor." She's now focusing on becoming a pediatrician. She said she'd like to go to the University of Missouri-Columbia.

The Soldan-Clark mentoring program will involve about 30 high school students working with 20 fourth-graders from Clark.

Erica said the monthly meetings will be divided into four parts. First, there will be an "icebreaker" activity at the beginning to get everyone involved. Then, there will be a teaching activity built around the theme of the month.

The older and younger kids then will have sharing time. The meeting will close with refreshments.

Erica said, "This isn't a neighborhood that is overflowing with good role models for younger kids. Maybe we can help."

The mentoring program kicked off in January with a pizza party. That event also was a birthday party for I.E. Millstone, a 96-year-old Soldan graduate. His Millstone Foundation is helping to finance the LEAP mentoring.