My Mentoring Experience

The Healthy Buddy Program is a mentoring program for caring volunteers and grade school students. The teachers select students that they feel may benefit from a mentor and place them on a list. The academic departments at the local college then searches for volunteers among the students. Those students then donate some of their time to one of the grade school students. I participated in this program through the criminal justice department at my college and found it to be a pretty rewarding experience.

I feel that the Healthy Buddy program is only as good as you make it. My buddy was a middle child of a large family. One thing that I learned from him was a little bit of what it's like to be part of a large family with many siblings, as I am an only child. The main need of this child that I observed was attention. Being from a large family and being a little withdrawn, I don't feel like he gets much attention at home. I addressed his need for attention by asking him open ended questions and letting him talk to me. At first he was a little shy but after a few days he began to open up and share with me a lot. The speaking and listening skills I have acquired and enhanced through my criminal justice studies helped me to meet my buddy's needs. My prior experiences as a tutor, babysitter, and mother helped me to be patient with my buddy as he completed his homework and shared stories with me. This experience is valuable to me because it gave me yet another experience to work with children. As I plan on working with children in a juvenile justice setting, this experience along with others like it will help me to relate to and help other youths I encounter.

I think the Healthy Buddy program has impacted my buddy because it gave him an opportunity to talk about school and home. It gave him an opportunity to even vent a little bit about his sisters especially. If I were to participate in the Healthy Buddy program again, I would like to spend more time with the child, perhaps in an after school setting to complete homework or take small field trips with other participants. My buddy and I discovered that we both love to go fishing, so that would have been a really fun activity. I also would have liked to participate in the program for longer so that the child could better benefit from it. I did not learn to active listen through this program, but I do believe I enhanced that skill. Although at first it was difficult to active listen while watching the clock, as I had to get my buddy back to class on time, I believe I accomplished that because my buddy seemed to enjoy our time together. I do feel that I utilized my analytical skills in determining the needs of my buddy; the basic need generally being attention. I believe that the Healthy Buddy program was beneficial to me as a person because any interaction with children and young adults enhances the skills I must possess for a career in juvenile justice.