Hanging out with the cool kids: South Conway Elementary students meet their mentors

A lucky group of fourth graders spent their Friday morning meeting the high school mentors they’ve been learning from for several weeks.

About 200 Myrtle Beach High School students met their fourth grade counterparts for the first time Friday at South Conway Elementary School. The mentors, who are all part of the Seahawk New Technology program, have spent the past few weeks teaching the elementary students what they need to do to succeed in high school.

“We just give them advice and give them direction when they need it,” said mentor Athena Vereen, 11th-grader. “And it makes you feel good about yourself.”

Students were given elementary students to mentor as part of a class component, said Sheri Bordas, New Technology teacher and mentoring program organizer. The program was meant to give high schoolers an opportunity to become a leader and help students who may not always have a role model, she said.

The several week-long program was a “positive experience” for both the younger students and their older counterparts, Bordas said.

“We wanted our students to step out of themselves and figure out they can be a leader,” Bordas said. “And of course the fourth graders were psyched to have a 15-year-old friend.”

The high school students wrote letters to the younger students and video chatted with them occasionally. Friday was the first time the couples met in person, but it’s also their last.

The mentoring program was a component of New Tech’s curriculum and now students must move on to another project, Bordas said. The students never shared contact information or last names, so this will probably be the only time they’ll see each other, she added.

“We’re trying to keep it professional, so we didn’t want them to take selfies or share Facebook pages,” Bordas said.

Professionalism is also why the Myrtle Beach school chose students more than 30 minutes away, according to New Technology director Angie McCune.

“We didn’t want to do it in our backyard because there might be acquaintances or people the students know, and we wanted to give them a true leadership role, which is easier when they didn’t already know the kids,” McCune said.

That didn’t stop the students from connecting, however.

Robbie Mroz, tenth grader, said the mentoring program was one of the best things he’s ever participated in. Helping a younger student learn what it takes to make it in high school – both socially and academically – gives him a rewarding feeling like nothing else, he said.

“I would have gladly done it even if it wasn’t mandatory,” Mroz said.

Though he’s glad to have the leadership experience, Mroz said he’s saddened by the idea of never talking to his protege again.

“I’ve only really met him once, but you still have this connection,” he said.

The younger students feel the connection too. Lycean Brinkley, fourth grader at South Conway, said the best part of the program was finally meeting the high-schooler she’s been writing letters to for several weeks. As part of the program’s finale, Brinkley and the other students watched a motivational speaker/magician perform – which involved doves, a guillotine and the age-old rabbit trick – and danced around the gym to popular songs.

The morning finished off with a cupcake decorating station and, of course, more music. Even some of the Myrtle Beach football players joined in on the Cupid Shuffle, but only after their younger counterparts joined in first.

“Even our toughest kids turn into putty when they’re around these kids,” Bordas said.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 5:16 PM with the headline "Hanging out with the cool kids: South Conway Elementary students meet their mentors."