When you look back on the people that helped make you who you are, who comes to mind? A teacher? A coach? Maybe it was a counselor, a relative, or a community leader. Whoever you pictured in your mind just now, one thing is true: they cared. When a child has someone in their life who takes an interest, makes them feel they’re not alone, reminds them that they matter, and helps them deal with the day-to-day challenges of growing up, that child has a mentor. And the effects of mentorship have been shown to make a difference.
October 27th is National Mentoring Day – the largest celebration of mentoring in the world – and to honor the impacts of mentoring, we wanted to go straight to the source and spotlight a few of the volunteer mentors:
Isaac Hernandez-Arevalo, a dual-language Elementary School Teacher with 10 years of experience in education, is currently mentoring two high school seniors. Thinking back on his own experience, Isaac recalls “I remember how hard it was to apply to college and how stressful it was, I feel like no teenager should be that stressed out… I remember applying and I felt so lost when I was doing it, and it felt like I was just in a black hole.” For Isaac, mentorship is “not just about x,y,z, fill this out, click that button… it’s about letting them know that they have someone that’s behind them, that someone is there supporting them, that they’re not alone on the journey.” As an educator, Isaac understands the value of places like Heart of LA “that are providing not just afterschool services, but family services, resources, and programs of all kinds… I grew up in these communities too, I know many of these kinds of programs brought value.”
Another College Access mentor, Amy Spach, brings her experience as a journalist for NBC News in both New York and London to her mentorship role at Heart of LA. Amy remembers what a difference it made for her in her early career in the hierarchical structure of journalism, how many doors opened up once “someone saw me as worthy and tapped into me.” Amy wants to pay that feeling forward, and for her, it’s easy to get inspired. “I love working with young people! I have a particular soft spot for that look a person gets when they achieve their goal – but seeing how they pivot and show resilience when things don’t quite go their way is just as important.”
In celebration of National Mentorship Day, we’d like to say thank you to Amy, Isaac, and the dozens of other mentors volunteering their time for Heart of LA’s youth. If you’d like to get updates on the upcoming Spring mentorship session, click the link below to sign up for our volunteer newsletter.
