Not your money but your time

Over and over I have seen this community demonstrate its willingness to support good causes. We are especially generous when it comes our youth, proven with the construction of our Columbia State site, Abigail’s Plan, and hundreds of projects in between.

Today we have another need, and it calls on a commodity more precious than money: our time.

Like two classes before them, the Class of 2017 has the opportunity for a tuition-free education at a state community college or technical school with the Tennessee Promise. A key component of the program is its mentors, adults who volunteer to spend a few hours with a small group of graduating seniors over the course of about a year and a half.

Mentors remind students of important deadlines, help them find ways to fulfill their eight-hour-per-semester community service requirement, and provide encouragement as they make the transition from high school to college or technical school. As a mentor, your help is especially important for those who may be the first in their families to seek education after high school.

How do you become a mentor? Apply online by November 20 at TNAchieves.org, website of the nonprofit agency that partners with the Tennessee Promise in most counties across the state. At that point you will choose to work with students at LCHS, LHS or SHS, or students who were homeschooled.

Next, you’ll attend your choice of two one-hour training sessions at the local branch of Columbia State, offered November 28 at Noon and January 26 at 5:30 p.m. Returning mentors have the option of viewing an online webinar offered on five different occasions.

You will have two official meetings with “your” students: in the spring when they need to be concerned about college applications and other deadlines, and the following fall after they’ve almost completed a semester of college/technical school. Between those times, you will keep in touch with them via text, email, or telephone, just to make sure things are still on track for them.

Attendance and graduation at Columbia State and two nearby TCATs has increased thanks to the Tennessee Promise, but we still have too many who don’t take advantage of this tremendous gift. That is a tragedy for individual students, their present and future families, and for this community as a whole. Better-educated residents are essential to a better quality of life for everyone. So when you sign up to become a Tennessee Promise mentor, know that you’re not only helping those students, but this community as a whole – yourself included.