Deshawn Williams didn’t used to see himself as a leader, and he sure didn’t want to work with kids.

But after he got into some trouble with firecrackers in Grade 8, his principal at Oakdale Park Middle School suggested he try a local summer mentorship camp.

The free six-week program — 3 Rs with fun on the side — gave him an early high school credit and a taste of what school might do for his future.

He liked it so much he started to volunteer and then became a mentor himself for Success Beyond Limits, the non-profit mentoring group that has trained hundreds of Jane-Finch teens to be role models for kids in their community.

Most now head to post-secondary education and set an example for younger students.

While having a mentor is helpful, it seems being one can also pay off.

“Being a mentor was a major turnaround for my life; I now know I can be a leader and maybe change the way things are done,” said Deshawn, now 17 and entering Grade 12 this fall atWestview Centennial Secondary School. “It’s even strengthened my relationship with my little sister.”

He plans to become a child and youth worker for the Children’s Aid Society.

Deshawn is one of 24 Westview students in Grade 11 and 12 working as mentors this summer for the free Grade 9 prep program, whereby 100 Grade 8 graduates from Oakdale Park andBrookview Middle School are bussed to York University for a head start on high school English and math from Toronto District School Board teachers in the morning. That’s followed by field trips and leadership programs with mentors in the afternoon. Students who struggle academically are given priority, and they earn a high school credit in General Learning Strategies.

But the mentors get something out of it, too.

“I went in scared; I didn’t know a young man from Jane-Finch could be a mentor — I presumed I’d need a mentor,” recalled Nana Tieku, 21, who went from almost blowing his bid for the mentoring job — “My interview sucked; my speech was horrible” — to being hired on for three years.

He only quit to become vice-chair of the board.

“Being a mentor helped me face my fear of public speaking, and even working with at-risk youth. I didn’t know what to do, but they gave us really practical training — not much paperwork; lots of role playing — and here I am, once seen as an at-risk youth, mentoring at-risk youth.”

Youth worker Christopher Penrose is not surprised; as executive director of Success Beyond Limits, he said being made a mentor is a vote of confidence that too few Jane-Finch teens ever get because of the public’s focus on violence and poverty in their neighbourhood.

It’s one of the reasons he encourages mentors on Twitter.

“They’re not always the best students academically, but we look for mentors who can discover new levels of purpose and responsibility,” said Penrose, whose group is funded by a number of charities, including the (Blue) Jays Care Foundation and the United Way as well as the TDSB.

Mauricio Araya is a Grade 8 teacher at Oakdale Park, where a 12-year-old student was caught last year with a gun in his backpack.

“This neighbourhood has some challenges, but I see mentoring turn kids around 360 degrees; a lot are natural-born leaders who are just putting those skills into the wrong things,” Araya said at a spring recruitment rally for the program. “This program also shows them they can actually make money doing something positive — the mentors get paid.”

Araya has watched Success Beyond Limits transform Deshawn. “The neighborhood kids look up to him now; Deshawn has influence with a lot of kids.”

Oakdale Park Principal Craig Crone admits a high school prep program is helpful in a community where few families can afford summer enrichment activities.

“They also get to meet some mentors they will see when they get to Westview, and in Grade 9, friendly faces are good.

“While principals can tell kids, ‘Go to class, do your work, stay out of trouble,’ the kids go: ‘Yeah, yeah.’” said Crone. “But when a young mentor from their own community says it, they listen.”

Reference: The Toronto Star

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1229826–jane-finch-summer-program-helps-grade-8-kids-and-turns-older-youth-into-mentors