For my capstone project, I really wanted to create something that would have a lasting impact on the SLA@Beeber community, even after I have left it. So after a lot of intense trial and error, I decided that my final capstone project would be a mentorship program between the SLA@Beeber High School and SLA Middle School. This entailed several high school students ranging from freshmen all the way to seniors going every wednesday to the middle school which like our school is very new and currently only has one class of fifth graders. I not only created and organized this program throughout the year, but I also mentored one of the middle school students. This program started up in February and took place every wednesday. The mentors and mentees were able to create and sustain a supportive and trusting relationship with one another This helped the mentors later in the program when working on improving the mentees social and academic skills, which were in need of repair given their lack of experience with the SLA Model and its core values. The mentors were also asked to fill out a journal entry and questionnaire about what they did each session.The end product was a video compilation that includes interviews from the mentees and mentors, as well as pictures taken throughout the program. I have also created a guide book for anyone who would like to take this program over next year.

(This program also acted as mini course and internship.)

-Does peer mediation cut back on student on student confrontation?

-How do students respond to student mentors rather than adult ones?

-Do students feel uncomfortable relaying their problems with authority figures?

-How much does student voice matter school authorities?

Research:

-Mediation and mentorship skills

-Ways to create a successful team and legacy program

Collaboration:

-Work with JT to see if our programs can cross paths at any point

-Work with Ms. Lawson to solve problems

-Teachers at SLA Middle School (Ms. Ironside)

-Get outside leaders of college or after school mentorship programs to teach our student mentors

Presentation:

-A physical and electronic instruction manual/guide book for how to successfully run the student mentorship/peer mediation program to represent my reflection for what worked and what didn’t work throughout the project.

-A reflective essay on my experiences throughout the year as well as a collection of organized notes taken every mentorship session to chart my progress throughout the year.

UPDATE

-Over the course of this capstone, I had come to realize that the best way to depict my project’s  successes as well as its defeats, was to create a video with testimonials from both mentors and mentees. This will replace the reflective essay and subsequent notes.

Reflection:

During the course of this capstone I realized that when you are starting a project like this with the intention of making it last after you are gone, there is going to be a lot of mistakes made. I for one can say that I probably did more things wrong than right in the very beginning. In the end though I think that both the mentees and mentors felt as though they got something significant out of the program and will treasure the experience for a very long time.