Campbell column: Mentors make a difference
Published 12:00 am Thursday, February 2, 2012
By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
Carson High School Principal Kelly Withers was recently dubbed the Northwest Region Principal of the Year, but she didn’t make it to the top alone.
Those who take time to talk to Withers will quickly realize that she attributes much of her success to the mentoring she received from retired principal Henry Kluttz.
“He models every minute of every day,” Withers told me after being named the district’s Principal of the Year in October. “He models what a principal should be by always talking to and about the students and putting them as the top priority.”
But Kluttz did a little bit more than model. He took Withers under his wing, giving her opportunities to become a leader.
“I personally put her in the forefront of every initiative,” he said in December. “Not only did I let her do them, I asked her to do them. I pushed her to do them to get experience and grow.”
I think it’s fair to say we all need people in our lives to push us to be better, to dream bigger, to not settle for the easy path.
I recently wrote a story about the three generations of the Bates family volunteering their time to mentor students at schools like Hanford Dole Elementary and North Rowan Middle.
The youngest Bates, Dominique, said something particularly that stood out during our interview when I asked why the family got into mentoring.
“Growing up, I never had to worry about people being there for me,” he said. “It was instilled in me that it takes a village to raise a child and I want to be part of that village.”
As a retired educator and the volunteer coordinator for Communities in Schools of Rowan County, a United Way agency aimed at drop- out prevention, Doris Yost has seen what that “village” can do.
“Mentors provide students with positive role models, someone to help them set goals, encourage them and so much more,” she said.
Yost remembers mentoring a student who had taken on adult worries such as eviction.
“He really just needed someone to listen to him and what his worries and dreams were,” she said. “He told me one time that he was so lucky to have me in his life because he could tell me anything and he knew I cared.”
Although Communities in Schools already has 180 volunteers, Yost said there is always a need for more.
“I think sometimes people think they have to have specials skills or be a certain age to become a mentor but all you really need is 30 minutes a week, a listening ear and caring heart,” she said.
Yost said Communities in Schools Founder Bill Milliken says it best.
“Programs don’t change children, relationships do,” she said. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Sarah Campbell covers education for the Post.
Contact her at 704-797-7683.
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