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Mentorship program develops students, service members

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Laura L. Valentine
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  As a community within a community, the Air Force has long established ways of giving back to others. Through the Sumter County School District Mentor Program, many volunteers on base have found a long-term opportunity to support the local community through children.

"It's not just volunteering," said Senior Airman Christopher Anderson, 20th Maintenance Group maintenance management analyst. "It's committing to meet with a child continually to develop a relationship."

The mentor program takes place during the normal school year, matching volunteers to students throughout the district in the hopes of creating positive, long-term, relationships between the mentee and mentor.

With approximately 16,000 students in the 27 participating Sumter district schools, the need for volunteer mentors exists across the board, said Robin Mixon, Sumter School District prevention specialist and the mentor program coordinator.

Mixon attributes the mentor program as a protective factor in a student's life, which counteracts the risk factors. For example, a risk factor to adolescent crime is a lack of positive home influence, she said.

Having a mentor as a protective factor helps direct a student to success, said Mixon.

Currently, more than 200 Airmen and Soldiers across Shaw Air Force Base have become protective factors for local students.

"The Air Force is such a diverse group which is a wonderful thing to have when guiding children," said Anderson. "Airmen are able to share their Air Force story with these children and potentially inspire a positive future, but they are sharing their personal life as well."

Kindergarten through 12th grade students and their parents are able to request a mentor through the program.

Many students in Sumter County are seldom exposed to military members or law enforcement personnel. Seeing a person in a uniform helps to potentially connect a child to a future path, said Mixon.

Once volunteers are vetted and matched with a student, the program guidelines require committing to meet with the mentee twice a month for an hour. During that time, mentors and mentees can decide what to do.

"With my mentee," said Anderson, "we bonded over chess and talking about the television show, The Walking Dead."

Anderson recommends finding anything that helps connect with the student. Many volunteers eat lunch with their student or help with homework.

Anderson has been a mentor with the program since 2011 and began actively recruiting others in 2013. He regularly talks to groups of all ranks on base about the possibility of mentoring.

The jump in volunteer numbers from last year to the current, Mixon largely attributes to Anderson's enthusiasm.

"I'd like to think that everyone who volunteers is passionate," said Anderson. "This isn't something that you can earn money for, or see an immediate result. We are able to guide mentees through example, not tell them what to do. Anyone who volunteers is a hero, uniform or not."