To some, teens are everyday heroes
Published: October 9, 2005
Heroes are in short supply for many of today’s students. Except, that is, for some fortunate children who benefit from the role models provided by Sunnyslope High School.
Participating in an award-winning program, motivated high school students are given the opportunity to be a hero in a kindergarten through fifth-grade student’s life.
The decade-old Life Guides program has 30 life guides working for one period each day in classrooms at Desert View Elementary School.
Linda Brown, program coach at Desert View, facilitates the program’s unwavering mission.
“Our partnership with Sunnyslope’s Life Guides Program has provided many opportunities for our students to get one-on-one assistance in a variety of academic areas,” Brown said. “The mentoring piece has encouraged our hesitant students and challenged our advanced ones. Life guides also create bulletin boards, educational games and classroom books. The benefits continue to excite everyone involved.”
“This program is a win-win for everyone,” said Terri Fields, Sunnyslope High School teacher and program coordinator.
For her, this has been one of the most exciting programs she’s worked with in 35 years of teaching. “My high school life guides develop strategies that assist them with their own learning and feel the self-esteem that comes from providing a valuable community service,” Fields said.
“The elementary children have a positive role model and a special friend who helps them to learn, and their teachers have a dedicated extra assistant in the classroom.”
Most of all, it is the life guides themselves who sum up how they feel about their impact. “I know how much I mean to these kids, so I make sure I come to school every day, and I make sure I act properly for them,” junior Crystal McSorley said.
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