Mentor group seeks more business professionals

Indian River School District is seeking business people to serve as role models and mentor students.

“One of our biggest needs is to have businesses sign on,” said Michele Murphy, coordinator of mentoring for the Indian River School District. “Having a professional role model would inspire college and career aspirations for our students.”

Indian River School District has about 300 mentors throughout the district who meet with students during school hours for about an hour a week, said Tracey Gross, mentor recruiter.

“It's old-school quality time for our mentors to meet with the students,” she said. “To have these mentors go in just once a week, it has wonderful repercussions in the community.”

Gross oversees about 50 mentors at Long Neck Elementary, where she began as a mentor herself.

She mentored a Long Neck Elementary student for three years before becoming a mentor coordinator for Connecting Generations, a mentoring organization that partners with IRSD.

Gross said mentors are asked to socialize with a student by doing something fun. Board games, sports or just a walk around the playground are great ways to connect with a child, she said.

There is no education component to mentoring time, Gross said, unless a teacher asks that the child receive help with reading or other schoolwork.

“It's important that the child get the one-on-one time with an adult,” she said.

To encourage more mentors to sign up, Indian River is holding a Muffins for Mentors event, 9-11 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 19, in the George Washington Carver Academy in Frankford.

Anyone interested can contact Gross at 610-804-6574 or connecting-generations.org.