A partnership between Heart of Ohio Mentoring and local schools to provide carefully screened mentors to work with students.

Does a mentor receive pay?

·        No, all of our mentors are volunteers.  Mentors who are Ohio State students can receive college credit for the time they spend mentoring.

What does a mentor do?

·        Works individually with a student to assist them to provide ongoing support in academic classes, life skills, or other specifically identified areas of need to help the student gain success.

·        The mentor may assist in helping with academics or sometimes just participate in discussion with the student to better understand what the student believes is their individual needs for success.

·        Mentors are great listeners, they listen to what the student has to say and offers suggestions but only suggestions, the mentor is there to help the student with their choices - not to make choices for the student.

What does a mentor look like?

·        A mentor can be male or female, young, old, or in between.  The mentor can be a factory worker, a teacher, coach, lawyer, homemaker or anyone with a sincere desire to help a student.

Why would someone want to be a mentor?

·        Volunteers have a sincere desire to help others.  They enjoy spending time with students and many of them may have a real understanding of the positive outcomes because they have been mentored themselves.

Do I have a different mentor throughout the year?

·        No, in most cases, we try to provide a mentor who can devote time throughout the year to be matched with the same student.  This give the pair time to build a relationship and understanding which proves more successful for the student.  Also, the mentor enjoys more success by having time to understand the student’s needs.

·        If a mentor must change their schedule or drop out of the program, we try to quickly provide a new mentor to fill that opening.

How often does a mentor meet with the student?

·        We try to schedule them once, per week, throughout the entire school year.  In some cases, the mentor may meet every other week.  Each session is approximately one hour.