CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — "HOSTS or "Helping Our Students To Succeed" is kicking off this month at Flour Bluff ISD. Male students will be paired with male mentors and female students with female mentors.
Linda Barganski, Associate Superintendent of Federal and State Programs Flour Bluff said the program is not just about getting grades up.
"It's not just academics, it's about what's happening in their lives and their mentor being a part of their life and helping them grow," said Barganski.
However, because of the bond the mentor and mentee create, she has seen improvement in student's grades and attendance after going through the program.
"They [students] want to make you proud after you've been there for a couple of years with them. They want to show you how well they're doing. They want to show you their report card. They want to show you that they haven't missed that many days if they had an attendance issue," said Barganski.
The program has a specific long-term goal in mind for students.
"But it's building those relationships and letting our students know how important they are to our community. How we want them to grow here and put back into the community," said Barganski.
What about the time commitment for the mentors?
The district says they are flexible. Brian Scholz, counselor and administrator of Flour Bluff ISD said, "It's about once a week. 30 minutes to an hour that they meet with their students. And we got times that we'd like them to come in, but we'll take them any time if we have to. We can always make arrangements."
Staff mentioned that there are certain requirements to apply to a mentor, like a background check and training.
For more information,visit Flour Bluff's HOST info page.
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