ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / November 2, 1999

LAPLACE – It’s been over 30 years since I’ve been in a junior high classroom, and I am, understandably, a little nervous. The smell of chalkand floor wax stirs up some long-forgotten memories. Did I do myhomework? Is there a test today? Will the teacher call on me? But then I remember I am here as a mentor and tutor. That brings up a lotof new worries because I’ve been told I will be tutoring a student in math.

Math anxiety sets in.

What is the area of a circle? I hope there are no word problems. Oh mygosh, I forgot what a quadratic equation is! I am brought back to reality by the voice of Robert Schaff, principal of the Glade School, as he introduces me to the head of the HOSTS Mentoring program.

“Ms. Duhe, here is another mentor for you,” Schaff says. “He’s a reporterwith L’Observateur.””How wonderful.” Duhe smiles and shakes my hand vigorously.I never remembered teachers being so nice.

Duhe leads me across the room, past desks with other adults busily teaching and helping students. We stop in front of a desk. A boy looks up atme and smiles shyly.

“This is Jeffrey, and you will be working with him.”Duhe smiles and hands me a folder. “Here is what you and Jeffrey will beworking on.” She walks off.

I sit down. We look at each other and smile. I take a deep breath and openthe folder.

The HOSTS Mentoring project is something new being tried by Schaff and his staff. HOSTS, Helping One Student To Succeed, is a federal programthat tries to get the community involved in public education.

“We have two basic goals with HOSTS,” says Schaff. “First we want toestablish a one-on-one relationship between the mentor and the mentee, and secondly, we are trying to improve our students’ math skills.”After last year’s Louisiana Education Assessment Program scores came out, Schaff realized his students needed a lot of work in math.

One of the Glade’s teachers, Sandra Horne, approached Schaff with an article on the mentor program. Then School Board president, RichardDeLong suggested that a proven mentoring program HOSTS be used.Schaffnot only felt it would help out the students’ math skills, but it would also get the community involved and would set up positive role models for the children.

A committee of teachers was formed, a grant proposal was written.

The first thing Jeffery and I do are flash cards of mathematical terms. Iread the explanations on the back of the cards for words like exponents, base, powers of 10, number place and scientific notation. I ask him whatan exponent is. He hesitates, so I read the back of the card to him. He stares at me blankly.

I agree. I don’t even understand the definition. But my early training kicksin and I remember what an exponent is, so I explain it to him in my own words. We go through the rest of the cards this way. Jeffrey smiles whenhe grasps the concept of scientific notation. I’m not nervous anymore.HOSTS is a systematic, technology-based system that assists teachers and school staff to track the progress of the student with sophisticated software. This database helps the teachers match up students with theareas they need help in. A mentor writes up a report after each session,and these reports are used to help the teacher to find a student’s weaknesses and strengths.

The program takes place on Thursdays and is divided up into six 50-minute sessions. Right now the Glade has about 20 mentors, but administratorsand teachers have targeted over 72 students in the school who need extra help in math.

“We really need more mentors,” says Schaff.

Duhe agrees, “Tell everybody you see that they need to come sign up.”St. John Parish Superintendent of Schools Chris Donaldson is a mentor.”It doesn’t take up much time,” says Donaldson, “and it really means a lot to the students.”Our hour is almost up, and Jeffery is taking an short test on what he has just learned. With hardly any prompting from me, he goes through the testand answers all the questions correctly. I feel very proud.The bell rings. Duhe and her assistants start collecting the folders. I shakeJeffery’s hand.

“I’ll see you next week,” I say.

He smiles. “That’s great.”The St. John Parish School Board invites all parish citizens to volunteer tobe a mentor. Anyone can be a mentor for the HOSTS program. Just show upevery Thursday at the Glade School on U.S. Highway 51 and tell thereceptionist you would like to be a mentor. For more information, call theGlade School at 652-2003 during Ms. Duhe’s planning period which is from2 pm to 3 p.m. to sign up for mentoring, or else call Robert Schaff.

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