At YSC Academy, we use the term “Mentor” for the adult responsible for guiding our students through their experiences on and off the field.  We charge our Mentors, who are individually selected by the students, to know and recognize that student fully­.  We believe that to help a student grow; we must know him as an individual as much as possible, his background, his family, his life experiences. We must respect the student, understand his talents and challenges, and help him develop his goals. A good Mentor relationship is easy to measure in good times, but a healthy relationship is measured in difficult times. Our Mentors work very hard to balance unconditional advocacy for their student and gentle but supportive challenge. We expect our Mentors to provide support and guidance in a personalized relationship with professional boundaries through regularly scheduled, formal meetings, as well as informal ones.

Mentors help their students:

• Become more self-aware, self-managed, and self-directed
• Develop better executive functions and time-management skills
• Learn the process of becoming advocates for themselves
• Understand their role in contributing positively to the community
• Listen to and understand others’ perspectives
• Develop problem-solving and conflict resolution skill
• Plan and lead their student-teacher-parent conferences