Be Someone Who Matters to Someone Who Matters
Greetings,
Thank you very much for considering becoming a mentor for a student in RUSD. As you know, “it takes
a village to raise a child.” I would like to present a volunteer opportunity for you that will have a major
impact on the life of a child—mentoring a RUSD student. This initiative has the support of the RUSD
administration and School Board, principals, and staff as well Racine city and county governments.
MENTOR RUSD has been active in the elementary and middle schools in RUSD for over 10 years.
Who are these Mentors? Mentors in our program are members of the Racine community; people who
just want to help kids. These mentors are screened and certified through the Racine Unified School
District’s WINGS system, trained, and then they are matched with students in RUSD by the Mentor
Coordinator. Mentors are not teachers or counselors, nor saviors. They are simply caring adults whose
friendship and support can help children to do better in school, to stay out of trouble, and to learn better
ways to handle their problems.
What is Mentoring? Mentoring takes many forms. It can be helping with school work, talking about
goals, or working on a fun and interesting game or puzzle. It can be reading together, sharing a hobby, or
maybe even just a time to talk about “life.” The most important thing is to build a trusting and supportive
relationship. Mentoring provides another positive role model for student, some of whom face some
significant challenges. Ideally, our mentoring mode will devote half of the time to academics and half
toward building the positive relationship with the student through various activities.
When does Mentoring take place? Mentors meet with students for one hour, one day a week.
Mentoring will take place at the student’s school, ideally for about an hour one day a week. The time and
day depend on the mentee and mentor’s schedules. Most of the schools have Extended Learning or After
School programs both before and after school, which is time we can also use. There may also be time
available during the school day, as arranged with the teacher. No mentoring meetings may take place
outside of the school setting.
Mentor Training MENTOR RUSD requires that mentors attend a two-hour mentor training workshop.
Mentors receive valuable insight and training into the mentoring process, and they will receive a Mentor
Tool-Kit, a booklet with information about the development of children, valuable mentoring tips, and
activities and a copy of The Mentor’s Field Guide, a valuable book presenting strategies to deal with
various mentoring issues.
I hope you will take the opportunity to seriously consider this opportunity to impact the life of a child in
a very positive way. Of course, you are welcome to contact me at the below address, phone or email. I
look forward to a conversation about mentoring a Racine Unified student. The skills, knowledge, and
personality that you bring to the match will have a lasting effect in the life of a child.
Sincerely,
Curtis Woods
262-664-6994
Mentor Coordinator
MENTOR RUSD
Racine Unified School District
262 939 1671/ 664 6994
Curtis.Woods@rusd.org
