More Than a Mentor
For me, having a mentor enriched the sense of care that I already felt from my parents. Yet a good mentor can in some ways even take the place of an absent or disinterested parent. One story of successful mentoring from the National Mentoring Partnership tells of James Mackay, a young man whose father was in prison when he was born. James grew up much like his father, surrounded by gangs and drugs. His little brother died in gang violence, and his mother was distraught almost to the point of suicide (“Abrigal and James,” Mentoring.org).
James was a high school dropout with no positive role models, and his future looked bleak. He heard about YouthBuild USA, a program that works with low-income young people to get their high school diplomas or GEDs while learning construction skills building affordable housing. Working with YouthBuild, James met Abrigal, an older man who spent ten years in prison and had a similar background as James. While in prison, older men challenged Abrigal and became father figures, helping him to change his life around.
“James was a young man I saw that needed help,” Abrigal says. “I figured I could be that help.” James now has his own apartment and is enrolled in school, pursuing an associate’s degree (ibid.).
One lesson from this story is that those who once were mentored can become effective mentors themselves. Perhaps they make the best mentors because they understand the value in mentoring. In this way, they are able to give back what they received, and possibly inspire others to do the same.