As a student, an athlete and a teenager, it’s nice to have someone to talk to about the stresses of life, be it a parent, friend or relative. For the past five years, this is what the Teammates mentoring program has given me and several other Yutan students. We were set up with mentors as junior high students, but when COVID hit, the Yutan chapter of Teammates was put on hold and hasn’t been in official operation since, yet several of the students who had mentors still meet with our mentors today, reaping several benefits from having someone to lean on and talk to. As a result, our staff believes this program is something we need to bring back, as there are many students who could benefit from having a Teammate.

I have firsthand knowledge of the benefits of this program.  Over the past five years, Teammates has helped me so much. In 7th grade, I was paired with math teacher Kassie Trevarrow. Being able to be paired with someone I already knew and trusted made me so excited. Trevarrow is like a mom to me at school, and in 7th grade I already had her as a coach and teacher, so I think already having a relationship was a big benefit I had being paired with her. We started meeting during our lunch hour my 7th grade year. We met once a week and sometimes twice if we missed a meeting a week prior.  We even found a way to meet my 8th grade year when COVID shut down school. I will always remember Zooming in with Trevarrow, and we even set up a day where we went for a walk together outside.

My freshman year, I lost my grandpa during my basketball season, and she really helped me cope with that. It’s something that I struggled with and still do today, so having her to talk to really helped me. After one of our meetings that year, she gave me a ring with a Bible verse on it that I still have to this day because it’s something that reminds me of our friendship over the last few years through the Teammates program. 

My sophomore year, I stepped away from playing volleyball after some things had happened during the first few weeks of practice, and she really helped me get through that. Having her to go and talk to about anything is something that I think is so beneficial; I can tell her anything and she will give me the advice I need, which is something I think a lot of students at our school could benefit from.

Another student who has seen the benefits of Teammates is junior Libby Winn. Winn has been a part of the teammates program for five years. She was paired with art teacher Sarah Portis and had had many similar experiences.

“I was paired with Ms. Portis when I was in seventh grade. I was really excited that I was paired with someone that I was already familiar and close with,” Winn said.

Winn thinks that having someone to talk to is nice because she can tell Portis anything and Portis will sit and listen to her.

“I think the benefits of talking to someone that is an authority figure is that you can trust them and go and talk to them about anything. I love going and debriefing with Ms. Portis each week. It helps me out as a person,” said Winn.

As for junior AJ Arensberg, he was paired up with Brian Daniell, Yutan’s principal at the time, for one year. Because the program got put on hold, when Daniell left, Arensberg was never paired up with a new mentor.

“When Mr. Daniell left, I was sad because I enjoyed meeting with him each week and talking to him about random things. He was another adult I could talk to. And when he left, they never paired me up with someone again, which made me sad because I enjoyed the program,” Arensberg said.

But it’s not just students who recognize the benefits of this program.  English teacher Alyssa Hansen has been a mentor for over four years now, and she sees the way that having someone to go and talk to can impact any student.

“One of the things that I enjoy most about teaching is getting to know kids on a deeper level and getting to hear about their lives, so talking about more life stuff than necessarily just English. So it gives me the opportunity to get to know some people in a deeper manner,” said Hansen.

Although it’s great that these students still meet with their mentors, it’s unfair to some who don’t get that chance anymore or get a chance to become a part of this program.

“I am always hopeful that we’ll go back to the way it was pre-COVID, where there’s more pairings, a little more organized, a little more of a working chapter. Right now it feels like we’re all kind of just doing our thing,” said Hansen. “I mean, we had T-shirts, and we were going to events and being recognized, and now it’s kind of just like after COVID that all changed. And so that makes me sad because it was a super strong program.”