The teammates mentoring program at Broken Bow schools, which has been serving middle school and high school students for several years, is now looking to expand into some of the elementary grades. The teammates mentoring program began in 1991 with the vision of University of Nebraska Head Football Coach Tom Osborne and his wife Nancy. Coach Osborne felt that the athletes in his program could make an impact on the middle school students, and twenty-two football players began meeting with middle school students in the Lincoln Public Schools. The program has changed and expanded since then now serving thousands of boys and girls across the Midwest with mentors coming from all walks of life. Superintendent of Broken Bow schools Darren Tobey and longtime teammates mentor Deb McCaslin visited with Central Nebraska’s News Source about some of the changes coming to the teammates program at Broken Bow public schools. Superintendent Tobey said that Broken Bow will be looking to expand the teammates program to include some of the elementary grades in hopes of “pumping some energy” into the program.
“What we’re trying to do with teammates is kind of pump some energy and rejuvenate the program. As you know we’ve ran teammates for quite a long time up at the middle school / high school. What we’re trying to do here 2nd semester is get into our elementary students. We’ll start to attack North Park with some teammates information and hopefully we can get the community, the kids, and most importantly our mentors excited about the teammates program and helping some kids at a younger age. Then hopefully that relationship they start in 4th and 5th grade will continue on as it relates to the middle school and high school”
With the expansion of the Broken Bow teammates program comes the need for more mentors. Deb McCaslin has been a longtime mentor in the teammates program and emphasized how rewarding serving as a mentor can be. She said an adult serving as a mentor receives just as many benefits from the program as the student. Superintendent Tobey shared what is expected from a mentor if they choose to join the program.
“30 minutes a week. We try to have a mentor meet with the kids…Generally, it’s over lunch hour so they’ll have lunch together and some kind of activity that they’ll do together…It’s just 30 minutes a week that we ask during the school year. The school does a great job of penciling out that time for the mentors and students.”
For those interested in becoming a mentor at Broken Bow public schools, an informational meeting will be held at noon on January 17th at the Jennie M. Melham Memorial Medical Center meeting room. More information on the teammates program, including how to become a mentor, can be found by visiting the website teammates.org.
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