Mentor Buddy - NHS

Mentor buddy is a long-term National Honor Society (NHS) program. The objective of this activity is engaging with students from lower school, especially students who are anti-social (or have behavioural problems). Our goal as NHS members is to help the students feel more comfortable in school and assist them in developing communication skills. There was almost an activity every month from September 2015 - July 2016.

The student I buddied with this year is a girl who I really like. After several interactions, I can see resemblance of myself from her, therefore it was easy for me to communicate with her and learn about each other. One of the event I recall is making christmas sock hand-crafts. In the beginning, I asked her what she wanted to do and she kept on responding with: "I don't know". It was a difficult task for me to engage her into the activity since she refused to communicate with me. Then, I decided to change a strategy and just started making crafts by myself, allowing some space for her to start producing something as well. Over time, I started observing the cute yet meaningful crafts she is making and I asked her what they were. She started to talk to me afterwards and made me realize that sometimes providing space for someone I just met is a indirect way of approaching/getting to know them. After that event, we got closer and could start conversations a lot easier.

Even though we did not have a lot of time to meet, I believe the main goal for myself was to make her feel like there is someone in the school that is willing to help her. I can assure this goal is met because every time we meet in school during House Activities, we will smile and say hi to each other. It was a very heart-warming experience even for myself knowing that I successful met a young friend. Since her and I are alike in many ways, I enjoyed the time with her even more.