‘Act for tomorrow’: Waynesboro High peer mentor program eases transition from middle school

The Giant Peer Mentor Program began at Waynesboro High School with 23 mentors and 23 mentees in the 2023-2024 school year.

The program seeks to provide transition support for rising high school freshmen coming from Kate Collins Middle School.

“We need to act for tomorrow and plan ahead, and then own your potential and not let yourself fall through the cracks,” Waynesboro High Assistant Principal Katrina Lassiter, who administers the program, said Tuesday night at a regular meeting of the Waynesboro School Board.

Waynesboro High juniors and seniors volunteer to serve as mentors to freshmen, who were identified as struggling. Students who transition from other school districts are also considered for mentorship.

“And, they do what they do best,” Lassiter said of the juniors and seniors.

While the mentors sign confidentiality agreements with their mentees, they are not counselors. Mentors offer support to their mentees.

Five of last year’s 23 students were not promoted to 10th grade despite mentorship, but of the five, four did not attend school regularly.

For the 2024-2025 school year, the program has 42 mentors and 40 mentees signed up.

“Our goal is to track academic attendance and behavior throughout the upcoming year,” Lassiter said.

Lassiter said the program will also partner with Kate Collins Middle School to provide support for 8th grade students and continue support for them when they begin 9th grade at the high school. The mentor program also hopes to engage in community activities.

“When I thought that I couldn’t be more impressed by how you guys empower and inspire our children in high school,” Waynesboro School Board Chair Debra Freeman said.

Waynesboro High Principal Bryan Stamm said he is grateful that the school’s administrators “are always seeking different ways to engage our students” and to give students what they need. Older students are asked to lead the younger students and younger students are asked to build relationships with the older students.

“We just noticed there was a need for our 9th-grade students to have some additional support,” Lassiter said. “They were struggling coming from the middle school even though serving four years at the middle school, we try to prepare them as much as possible for what life is looking like for when they get to high school and they still seemed to struggle once they got [to the high school] and the reality had not hit them till toward the end of the year.”