Revere High School students are leading a new initiative to further involve middle school students, specifically those who are dealing with difficult situations, be that at school or at home.
RMS Mentoring is a program advised by Bonnie Simonelli with deep roots within the Revere community. This program aims to unify struggling middle school students, who are in need of some guidance, and high school students, who are willing to give their time for this cause.
Ashlyn Pauch recently became co-president of RMS Mentoring. Last year she was a member of the club, brimming with ideas for improvement of the program.
“I just joined last year. . . . I kind of walked up to Miss Simonelli one day and said, ‘I have all these ideas’ and she was like, ‘Okay, you [and Jacob Light] are co-presidents‘,” Pauch said.
RMS Mentoring aims to help middle school students who may have trouble at home. These students will pair up with a high school student who will help guide them through these situations, or, if anything, just provide the student with a person to lean on and to trust.
“[The program is] just kind of another outlet, another resource someone can talk to, someone they’re going to trust and we hope that it’ll create a better relationship between high schoolers and middle schoolers,” Pauch said.
While the club does provide its members with a sense of community, it can take a toll on the mental health high schooler. The program has a definite impact on the mental health of both the highschool and middle school students.
“For the middle school student, it definitely is a weight off their shoulders. . . . For the high school student it can be draining, especially if you have a kid that has a little more trouble at home or at school,” Simonelli said.
Jacob Light, the co-president of the club, gave insight to how the club works and how the mentees and mentors get paired.
“[For the pairing,] it’s all based on personality. You’re a role model, a big brother, big sister to give them advice. I still talk to my mentee when I see him in the hallway, he goes here now [to RHS],” Light said.
Though training is a prerequisite for the club, there are some situations where preparation is somewhat impossible. In those cases, students are to reach out to the club’s adviser, Bonnie Simonelli, the at-risk coordinator for all Revere students.
“Even if you don’t have any experience in that, you might still have an opinion or two on how to handle the situation,but obviously if it’s something really traumatic, you go to your supervisor, which is Miss Simonelli,” Pauch said.
Simonelli, being the adviser of the club, is the one who will “make the call,” as she put it.
“I am called, as an adult and teacher, a mandated reporter . . . If it’s something about an adult in their life being abusive to them, then I call child protective services. I make that call,” Simonelli said.
Simonelli has been working closely with the club’s leaders, Pauch and Jacob Light, to bring about a year with many new members and different approaches to dealing with traumatic situations.
“[This year has been] a lot of planning. [I give] a lot of feedback, expressing my opinions . . . [and] how we should train the [new] mentors,” Simonelli said.
Simonelli does a lot more than just advise the club, she was actually the one deciding on who the mentees would be in previous years. The system is changing, however.
“I used to kind of handpick them and that was okay, but I think our buy-in wasn’t there from the parents as much because it was kids saying, ‘Yeah, we want to do this,’ and they really didn’t understand the commitment,” Simonelli said.
This year, rather than having Simonelli decide who these kids should be, the students and parents have been working together to make this decision. Of course, the parent has always had final say, the difference is in the interest and commitment that has to be shown (as of now) to really be in the club.
“So what we did this year, which was I think a brilliant move and got us a lot of kids, is I set up all points bulletin to the middle school parents and I had . . . 28 kids whose parents got back to me saying, ‘Yes, I want my student in here.’ So we have the buy-in from the parents saying this is a good thing. Once they come, the kids love it. So that’s how we did it this year, basically canvassing the middle school,” Simonelli said.
Simonelli, though still heavily involved in the club, has let the presidents take a very hands-on approach this year. They will be the ones conducting the training for the oncoming mentors.
“Actually Ashlyn and [Jacob] are going to do the training. I’m just going to be there for advice, you know, questions elsewise, but they are going to do . . . the training . . . Then we’ll have our [RMS] kids come up here on [November 1st] and then start the other week,” Simonelli said.
RMS Mentoring runs the sole purpose of providing a community and safe space for middle school students dealing with particular situations at home. Students who would like to participate will have to send in an application and attend the training session.
