Paul is a third grade student at Tomas Rivera Elementary in Denton, TX. He has lived in a single parent household with his father for many years. A couple of months ago, I had a mentor named Molly Tampke deployed to my school. I immediately thought she would be a great match to not only bring Paul out of his shell but to also provide him with a motherly figure. As soon as I met Molly, her personality was so outgoing and kindhearted that I knew right away it couldn’t get better than this.
I did give Molly a heads up that Paul was a student who was very introverted and reserved. When we are engaged in conversation, he often tends to stare blankly at me. Ms. Molly brought a bucket with her for their first time mentoring together, and within the bucket there were little slips of paper, each of which held a different task the two of them would have to do together. Some of these tasks included hopping around and yodeling. I was not sure if Paul would be very receptive to these activities, but I found it so incredibly thoughtful that she made this bucket just for him.
Since their mentoring time was to take place during lunch, I got Paul through the lunch line, back to Ms. Molly at their designated meeting place, and told the both of them to have a great time. I told her to check in with me afterwards so we could debrief her first day and further talk about anything else she needed to know.
When she greeted me after lunch was over, Molly had a big smile on her face and told me they just had the best time together. Paul was receptive to all of the activities, including hopping around and yodeling. My heart was overjoyed to hear that Paul engaged so actively with an adult.
Later that day, I found Paul to talk about his time with Ms. Molly. As soon as I mentioned her name, his face lit up and he told me what a great time they had together. I can’t wait to see what this relationship will do for Paul this year.
