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Shaler Area expands Team Up for Success mentoring program during National Mentoring Month

Shaler Area School District expanded its Team Up for Success mentoring program into an additional primary school building during National Mentoring Month, in January.

 

Team Up for Success is a new program that brings Shaler Area High School student athletes into primary school classrooms to mentor and tutor students.

Team Up for Success kicked off in October at Jeffery Primary School with about 20 high school student athletes working with students in kindergarten through third-grade. Following the program’s initial success, Team Up for Success expanded into Marzolf Primary School in January with about 35 total high school students participating in the program.

“I wanted to help create a sense of pride in our academic programs and athletic programs by bringing the two together,” said Clint Rauscher, Shaler Area athletic director. “The program has been very successful, and we are happy to be able to expand it to reach more students.”

The high school mentors work on specific academic goals with the younger students such as fine motor skills, math concepts, letter recognition or reading practice while talking to them about their interests whether it be sports or otherwise.

“The kids couldn’t wait for the high school students to arrive, and they are already asking when they are coming back,” said Rick Pelkofer, Marzolf Primary principal.

Team Up for Success runs once every 12 days to help build the relationships between the primary students and student-athlete mentors.


Mentoring program growing at Shaler Area
TribLIVE | News article Jan. 18, 2016