This holiday season we are using the Mentor Minute to celebrate mentors and the positive impact mentoring has in our communities! And, we’re doing that by focusing on words that we typically see or hear around this time of year. Words like joy, hope, peace, and light.
We want to share how one hour a week with a student can bring so much joy and hope and peace and even light into their lives (and ours). So, as you think back on your mentoring experience, ask yourself this question: how did the time that you spent with your student help bring joy, hope, peace, or light? If you have a specific story that you’d like to share or even just a general comment about how one of these words describes your experience as a mentor, please send them to us. We’d love to include them in this month’s Mentor Minute!
This week, our story comes from Lisa, who serves as one of our local Be the One mentor coordinators…
I love listening to Christmas music this time of year and recently discovered my now new favorite Christmas song–Seasons of Love which is bouncing around in my head. (By Pentatonix–Look it up and give it a listen—I bet you’ll love it, too!)
The lyrics ask this question: “525,600 minutes . . . how do you measure, measure a year?”
Part of the answer is: “in daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee, in inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.”
It got me to thinking about how do you measure mentoring–and the impact of one hour a week—in the life of someone?
“2,160 minutes.
How do you measure mentoring in a school year?”
One mentor I know might answer like this:
- In conversations, in card games,
- In cups of cocoa, in smiles
- In listening about math problems or boyfriends,
- In the confusion of wiping away tears
- In giggling at pet guinea pig pictures
- In walking laps around the track
- In looking at prom dresses and admiring a manicure
- In saying “See you next week!”
I’m not a songwriter, but I am attempting to say what matters is the little things that mentors do week after week when they show up to listen and be present. The cumulative effect is showing care for someone who needs to know they are important and worthy. That allows HOPE to grow.