Peer Mentoring Program

Peer Mentoring Program builds
relationships and leadership 

Friday afternoons at San Miguel School bustle with the excitement of the coming weekend. Amidst the excitement is a Friday afternoon tradition involving the fifth- and eighth-graders, a tradition unique to San Miguel Providence. Each fifth-grader is paired with an eighth-grade mentor, the older boy acting as friend and role model to his younger ‘brother.' The pairs eat lunch together each day, and Friday afternoons are devoted to activities that challenge the boys while helping to create and maintain a trusting relationship.

The Peer Mentoring Program is important to each student involved, helping the fifth-graders to better adjust to the environment of a new school while giving the eighth-graders a sense of gratification in being a role model. The older boys also remember their own experiences as mentees, never forgetting how they were impacted by their mentors.

Each year, the eighth-graders are paired with their little brothers only when they demonstrate a high level of responsibility and maturity, proving to the staff that they are prepared for the task of mentoring. This year's eighth-graders demonstrated their readiness for the mission right away, further illustrating the class of 2009's strong leadership abilities and potential. Through their example, our youngest "Miguel Men" may grow in leadership as well.

"Showing our younger brothers, who just entered the community, how to be ‘Miguel Men' is special. We have the beautiful opportunity to show how we became ‘Miguel Men' ourselves."
~Adonis, 8th grade

[Article published in Winter 2008 newsletter]