Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 3, 1990 TAG: 9005030686
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: TRACY VAN MOORLEHEM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A school dropout hangs around the school playground. He drives a flashy car, wears gold jewelry and expensive tennis shoes. The kids are impressed at the guy's success. He becomes a role model.
Everyday, negative role models use the lure of material wealth to charm kids into the world of drugs and other crime.
That's why every week the kids in Mignon Chubb-Hale's classroom at Addison Middle School spend time with adult mentors who push them, gently but firmly, toward success, higher education and greater self-esteem.
The mentors use their own tactics.
One mentor found out that a boy he'd been tutoring was a sports fan, so he sent him a book and a magazine about his favorite team. Another sent dozens of pages of information about France she had gathered for a girl who was working on a project. A third offered free haircuts each week to two pupils who would have otherwise gone without.
Holland, a retired railroad employee who serves as an active mentor, said he gives his time because children need to have positive role models Holland to combat unreal images of success.
"They look at the guys with the $30,000 cars and the gold chains who dropped out of school, and they want material success right now. But they can't have it, they have to work at it. We have to stop, on the parent level, giving children things and give them an understanding of how success works."
The mentors are men and women in business, elected officials, athletes and professionals, both retired and working. They visit Chubb-Hale's 6th grade and either address the whole class or tutor groups of two or three in a quiet room, from once a week to several times a year, depending on their schedules.
Businesswoman and beautician Cee Cee Otey speaks to the class several times a year. After her first visit she decided to offer free and reduced-price haircuts to the pupils.
"Everyone looks in the mirror every morning, and if they don't like what they see their esteem is very low," she said. When students visit Otey's salon she gives them tours and answers their questions about her college experiences and career training.
Otey said the children are responsive. They send her thank-you letters, make personal visits and ask intelligent questions. "They always make it worth my visit," she said.
Chubb-Hale pioneered the role-model project at Addison in October. About 40 adults have agreed to help with the project so far.
"The kids love it," she said. "All of them want a mentor. They like the individual attention. I wish we had enough for everyone."
She treasures a letter an 11-year-old girl wrote to her, asking if she could please have a mentor because she really wanted to improve her grades.
Marques Wilson, 11, said he wants to go to college or join the Air Force when he graduates from high school. "I think it's nice because it helps you in subjects you are weak in," he said of the mentors. "Also because you can ask a lot of questions."
Another pupil, Delette Johnson, said, "[The mentor program] gives me a way of seeing how I'm going to use my education."
Chubb-Hale gives the role models a list of what subject each student should work on during the session. But according to mentor Stan Hale, the president of the Southwest Virginia Community Development Fund, academics are not the only subject of discussion.
"I've been pleased by the communication between the kids and myself, and their candor," he said. "I never pry, but the kids often discuss the negative aspects of their lives. I'm touched by their trust."
Roanoke Mayor Noel Taylor has visited several of Chubb-Hale's classes. He fits the visits into his schedule, he said, because he remembers the positive hands on his shoulder when he was young.
Rep. Jim Olin has returned several times to the class. "I've been extremely impressed with the imagination Mignon uses to get the kids to interface with someone like me, a relative stranger," Olin said. "They are each prepared with four or five questions on a sheet of paper. One time I went during Black History Month and we exchanged stories."
Other mentors include state Sen. Granger MacFarlane, Assistant City Manager Earl Reynolds, VMI basketball players Ramon and Damon William and Channel 10's Greta Evans.
Chubb-Hale spends between four and seven hours per week of her own time scheduling the mentors since she doesn't have enough time during school hours.
"She probably does more for these children than any other teacher as far as educating them for life," Olin said.
by CNB