Mentor-mentee teams positively impact communities and result in personal growth
Print
EmailMentors and mentees can come together to plan a community service project as an activity to benefit the community and encourage personal.
Mentors help youth gain life skills that help them to successfully transition to adulthood, including being active and being contributing members of their community. If you are a potential mentor, think of some activities you could possibly do with your mentee. If you are already a mentor, reflect on some of the past activities that you and your mentee have done. If you are a potential mentor or mentor, did community service come to mind as an activity? As a mentor, have you and your mentee participated in a community service activity as a team? If you have, was the activity planned together as a team?
Community service is an option for mentors and mentees to come together as a match and work together to benefit the community.
Where can a mentor and mentee start for community service projects or ideas? Michigan 4-H Youth Development has a variety of resources for community service.
For mentors and mentees working together, an example of a resource to use is “Planning Your Community Service Project: Based on a Community Service Learning Model.” This guide provides information for planning community service projects such as a definition of community service, the steps for implementing a community service project and community service activity ideas for youth in various age ranges.
It is important to have the mentor and mentee work on these community service ideas together as a team. Michigan 4-H Youth Development values youth and adult partnerships and youth participating in service activities as it is reflected in the following Michigan 4-H Guiding Principles for Positive Youth Development:
- Youth develop positive relationships with adults and peers. (Guiding Principle #1)
- Youth grow and contribute as active citizens through service and leadership. (Guiding Principle #7)
It was once stated by Mentor Michigan, “Mentoring changes two lives at a time.” Mentors and mentees working together as team in community service project can change their lives and the lives of other people they are serving in different communities.
