May 28, 2015
by Marcus Priaulx
Barambah PaCE
Students relax when a mentor sits down beside them at Murgon State School.
The children know they’ll get the help they need to keep up with their mates.
In turn, they behave better and learn more.
And the mentors love what they do.
They get a buzz from the smile they put on the children’s faces.
“They missed me,” Aggie Dynevor said.
Aggie returned to the role about a month ago.
“They come up to me and say ‘it’s great to have you back’”.
Her fellow mentors have a similar connection to the children.
“A boy came and said ‘thanks for coming to teach us’,” Tarryn Hopkins said.
“It made me smile. We don’t do much. I just sat there and helped him.”
But Tarryn said the boy had been struggling and she loved the fact she made a difference to his day.
Stacy Collard is part of the team and said all the mentors had similar stories.
“It’s encouraging because normally the children wouldn’t get their work done without our helping them,” she said, before adding she had increased respect for teachers.
“I always knew they worked hard but this has given me a new appreciation,” Stacy said.
Making up the band of four on the day PaCE Matters spoke to the mentoring team was Sharon Shepherd.
Sharon said all the children were excellent and made her feel good.
As a single mother of five she thought mentoring could possibly add to her life stress.
“But I was wrong,” Sharon said.
“Now I think ‘why didn’t I do it earlier?’”
The other mentors agreed and are now thinking of possibly doing TAFE study to increase their skills and even possibly becoming qualified teacher aides.
“It’s great that we can help children who may not be getting the support they need at home,” Stacy said.
“We help any child that needs it.”
Sharon adds: “It makes me complete. I was just at home feeling sorry for myself and now I feel great!”
Tarryn said: “It would be great if more parents came and did this.”
Aggie finished with: “It’s great to be back.”
Other mentors currently at the school include Stella Isaacs and Cheree Gyemore.
