AZLE — Azle schools are making leaps in learning by connecting mentors and mentees.
Mentor Jamie Westbrook and fourth grader Max Lombardi spoke and played games at Cross Timbers Elementary last Friday, Oct. 25. During the games section, Azle ISD trustee, local pastor and Academy 4 volunteer Brandon Geary joined in for a game of chess. By the end of the day, Max said he wished it could have only gone on for longer.
Cross Timbers and Hilltop Elementary are the two Azle schools incorporating the nonprofit Academy 4 for all their fourth graders this year. Cross Timbers has about 77 students and 80 mentors involved. Mentors and fourth graders meet once a month.
The first half of the afternoon consists of different clubs like coding, pickleball, art, theater, gardening, money sense and others. A former coding teacher at Azle ISD, Dee Parnell, came out of retirement to teach the coding club. Along with the skill of coding itself, Parnell said the exercises promote problem solving and efficiency in general. After kids get through with their clubs, they join their mentors for conversation about the day’s lesson and then games.
Cross Timbers’ principal Shelly Wynns said the one-on-one time has been vital for many students and she has seen overwhelmingly positive results so far.
“Some kids don't get that at home,” Wynns said. “They don't get 30 minutes of undivided attention with an adult … They're excited and it helps promote good behavior, too. They're looking forward to something, they're working for something.”
The Cross Timbers site coordinator and co-pastor at the school’s church partner, Jenn Pick of Revive United Methodist, agreed that the mentorship seems to have the greatest impact on kids on Academy 4 days.
“What I've seen the impact on the kids is that they love all of the clubs that they're in, but what they most are looking forward to is the one-on-one time with the mentors,” Pick said.
One requirement of the nonprofit is that each elementary school involved in the program must have a church sponsor. As well as being its sponsor, Revive UMC holds Sunday services at Cross Timbers and provides about 30 volunteers for the Academy 4 program there.
Academy 4 had a getting-to-know-you session in Azle schools last month, but the Oct. 25 meet-up was the beginning of LEADERS lessons which are meant to instill good behaviors and important social skills. LEADERS stands for listen, encourage, attitude, develop, example, respect and serve.