Mentors help students dream big
January 22, 2007, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By ERVIN DYER

Three years ago, Stormy Wolfe was surfing the internal Web site at Federal Home Bank Loan of Pittsburgh and came across Mentoring Minds, a program the company supports that puts its employees in contact with local high school students.

Mrs. Wolfe, a wife and mother of a 13-year-old, sought the necessary approval and signed up.

It wasn't long before she met Allen, one of 10 Westinghouse High School students who would come to the workplace for one day a month for four hours and get tips on dressing for success, opportunities to practice public speaking and a place to sharpen their etiquette skills.

Mrs. Wolfe said that Allen, at first, was bright but shy, introverted and soft-spoken.

In three years, Mrs. Wolfe has spent at least 144 hours with Allen, or the equivalent of 18 business days.

In that time, she said, Allen, now a junior in high school, has matured into a young man reaching toward his potential to be a real estate agent. In fact, for the past two years, she and Allen have won a mock marketing competition at the company, where the students are evaluated on their PowerPoint presentations and public speaking.

"I see him making eye contact now and he's using his marvelous smile," she said. "He's not afraid to learn all the things he's been taught."

The success of their relationship was recognized at a regional event honoring mentors two years ago.

Such is the power of mentoring, said Colleen Fedor, head of the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

"A little can do a lot."

Youths who are mentored are 46 percent less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 33 percent less likely to hit someone, and 86 percent go on to higher education, said Ms. Fedor.

The positive contributions of mentoring should not be taken for granted, she said.
Mentoring, where someone older and wiser provides direction and uplift, is as old as the Bible.

In the New Testament, the great evangelist Paul teaches and guides Timothy, a young man he considers his son, to handle the toughest ministry assignments.

Often mentoring is heralded as an individual pursuit.

Talk-show host-billionaire Oprah Winfrey has frequently touted her relationship with poet Maya Angelou, a mentor who has counseled her professionally and spiritually.

Increasingly, though, said Ms. Fedor, mentoring can be collective. In Pittsburgh and across the country, more companies have come to recognize the value of mentoring and are shaping programs for employees to teach each other or for them to reach out into the community.

The many ways of mentoring are highlighted in January, National Mentoring Month. This is the sixth year for the campaign, which is aimed at recruiting volunteers to work with young people.

Thursday is the fourth annual Thank Your Mentor Day (www.WhoMentoredYou.org).

"What businesses are discovering," said Ms. Fedor, "is that there is no cookie-cutter way to share talents and touch young people."

At Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh they offer a mix of mentoring possibilities, said Crystal White, a human relations compliance officer who serves to coordinate them all.

She estimates that of the 246 employees at the company, 46 served as mentors last year and reached 1,500 youth.

Since 1999, Ms. White has mentored at the bank, with an e-mail initiative with Career Connections High School in Lawrenceville, and as a facilitator with the Westinghouse students.

At the bank, Mrs. Wolfe's husband, Brian, who works in administration services, is also a mentor. He's wanted to be a mentor after being impressed by an English teacher at Peabody High School in the 1980s.

In a few weeks, he and his wife will compete against each other in another marketing competition.

"For me," said Mr. Wolfe, "I like the opportunity to work with students from Westinghouse and help them develop."

It's a relationship that pays. Mrs. Wolfe and Allen occasionally e-mail each other. He asks for advice on homework and they discuss college as being the next goal for him.

She helped him with his application for his part-time job at the Homewood Y.

"He feels like my child," she said.

With the bank, they are now working on financial responsibility and looking forward to visiting Slippery Rock University next month and sessions on resume writing and interviewing.

"It's very important for young people to get with people who can guide them," she said.

"We like to think that parents can give them all the advice in the world, but kids need help."

(Ervin Dyer can be reached at edyer@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1410. )