BROCKTON — Local mentors are using a fresh approach to help students navigate the woes they face through their adolescent experience.
Jordan McDonald and Giovanni Hyppolite are two mentors working for the Brockton Public Schools and are making a difference one student at a time.
The primary role of the mentors is to offer social and emotional support through therapeutic mentoring and being a confidant for students in need.
BPS works with non-profit mentoring programs from Brockton to bring in quality mentors. One program the school district works with closely is Friends and Mentors, a program run by Brockton resident Kenny Monteiro.
“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to have a mentor for personal development. Having a mentor in the kids’ lives is needed more than ever because of the lack of social development due to COVID,” McDonald said.
Positive relationships can influence good behavior and allow students to have someone they can trust in the school, which will lead them to be more successful, Brockton Public Schools spokesperson Jess Hodges said.
The therapeutic mentoring approach has had great success in the school system, McDonald said.
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The mentors are seeing a change in how students view coming to school.
“It’s been tough on the kids since COVID and being home for a year and a half, but we are seeing improvements in attendance and behavior,” McDonald said.
The two mentors teach their mentees problem-solving skills and ways to de-escalate a situation while also being calm and understanding.
“I tell my kids, ‘You can’t control what someone will say to you, but one thing you can control is your reaction and response to that.’ I can see it day by day. It resonates more and more with them, and they’re able to build different calming techniques and strategies on how to deal with tough situations where they might have to use social and emotional skills,” McDonald said.
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Students in Brockton are faced with many challenges outside the classroom, especially when the pandemic was in full swing.
Resources during the pandemic were a big challenge for the community of Brockton mainly because not every student had access to the internet, which caused them to miss several days of class, McDonald said.
“When the kids were working remote, many kids didn’t have internet access. We had to bend over backward to get these kids Wi-Fi routers to connect to class. They were missing class because the system didn’t think of this thing ahead of time, and a lot of kids were left in the dust when it came to missing out on an education. In that sense, lack of resources was an issue,” McDonald said.
McDonald has worked with kids since 2009 at the Boys & Girls Club in Brockton and then later got hired for Brockton Public Schools.
Former Equity Diversity & Inclusion Student Support Specialist Lisa Rodrigues knows the situation firsthand.
“I grew up in Brockton, so I know what the students are dealing with, especially socioeconomic issues,” Rodrigues said.
Rodrigues and other members of BPS are working to find mentors that can alleviate some of the pressures and stress students may have.
“The mentors provide support to students from an emotional standpoint. We all know if students are going through things, it’s difficult to navigate through school,” Rodrigues said.
“The pandemic hit our kids hard. It’s been emotionally challenging for them. There are thousands of kids who work hard every day, but the kids are carrying a lot of trauma. This program isn’t just for kids who have behavioral problems but to help all the kids,” Hodges said.
The mentors and BPS understand the various challenges students in Brockton face but are changing the conversation by introducing mentors of color that can help the students navigate the challenges they face and give them a platform to be heard and seen.
“When I was in middle school and high school, I didn’t have any who looked like me, so now that I’m that person, kids look up to me and say, ‘Oh, he talks like me,’ and I might dress like them and wear braids like them, Hyppolite said.
“Being someone of color that’s relatable to the kids makes them feel more comfortable and connected.”
Enterprise staff reporter Alisha Saint-Ciel can be reached by email at stciela@gannett.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @alishaspeakss and Instagram at Alishaatv. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Enterprise today.
