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| Celebrating WISE Mentors Special Issue 3
John MacLean, Woodlands High School
John MacLean, Woodlands High School WISE mentor, taught his students to "think WISE-like."
For 26 years, John served as an enthusiastic WISE mentor, encouraging his students to always be on the lookout for opportunities to connect and network with people when they stepped out of the classroom and into the world for their WISE projects. He estimates that he mentored 130 students. "I still hear from my WISE mentees, some pretty regularly. This is especially gratifying, especially when I hear how the habits my mentees cultivated during their WISE experience translated to college and career."
Making Connections
John MacLean says that becoming involved with the WISE Program at Woodlands High School in 1986 was "one of the best things that ever happened to me." The experience of being a new teacher, surrounded by experienced teachers all mentoring their WISE students at the same time, gave him a feeling of interconnectedness with the other teachers. "WISE can be helpful to a new teacher," explained John. The WISE mentors, he noted, were "kindred spirits, creative minded and nurturing." They often collaborated as a group, planning WISE trips and enhancements to their mentees' learning experiences.
"WISE isn't just a program-it's an educational philosophy," explains John. "WISE is all about understanding the interconnectedness of things. Through WISE, students learn to make connections with the community and the world around them, building relationships and a network of resources that will help them succeed now and later in life."
"The spirit of looking for additional connections is the single most important part of WISE learning," elaborated John. This means making connections with the community. WISE is, therefore, a great PR tool for schools.
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| Benjamin Kirk, Ithaca High School
 Benjamin Kirk, a math teacher at Ithaca High School, has been a WISE mentor for five years. In a recent interview, Benjamin shares the highlights of his mentoring experience and explains why being a mentor is a little bit of a number of things: a cheerleader, a referee, an audience member, and an adviser.
Q: Share one of your most memorable moments as a mentor. A: One of my proudest moments was when one of my mentees - who had learned sign language as her project - contacted me after she graduated to tell me about a sign language club she started to coincide with the nursing program she was enrolled in. The fact that her project is having such a long-lasting and significant impact on her future makes me feel extremely proud to have been a part of it. Q: What is the most difficult part of being a mentor, and how did you overcome that challenge? A: The most difficult part of being a mentor is when I don't know anything about the topic my mentee is researching for their WISE project. I've had students research theater makeup, sign language, Hungarian cooking, and mathematics competition training. While I do know a thing or two about math, I know nothing about the other topics, so coming up with suggestions on sources for research was frequently a challenge. With the sign language project (mentioned above), I don't know sign language and--I regret--did not have anywhere near the amount of time my student had to learn it, so I was unable to be a source for her to practice her skill. But I've learned that I don't have to be knowledgeable about every topic to be an effective mentor.
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Ritamary Montano-Vining, Hunter-Tannersville High School
 Ritamary Montano-Vining, a teacher in the Hunter-Tannersville Central School District, has been mentoring WISE students for 11 years. "Being a WISE mentor requires a lot of time, energy, commitment," says Ritamary. "You need to be a mentor for all of the right reasons. If you want to make a difference in the lives of students, there is no better way to do that than by being a mentor. But be prepared. Don't cut corners. Give your WISE students all you have, because seeing the wonder in their eyes and watching the self-discovery take place in their life is the greatest feeling in the world." A Pinnacle in Your Teaching Career"Taking the time to find out what WISE is all about" is the best way to prepare yourself to be a mentor. "You have to believe in the power of the program. Once you believe in WISE, you can take the next step and get involved in what will prove to be a pinnacle in your teaching career. Being involved with WISE has been one of my greatest achievements," says Ritamary. Ritamary recently sat down with WISE Program Consultants Andy Lutz and Susan Fitts-Sibilia to discuss her experience as a mentor. Q: What is a WISE "mentor"?
A: A WISE mentor is someone who works alongside a student and helps motivate, focus, and question the project that they are engaged in. It is also important for mentors to teach students about the value of networking and building relationships and making connections. Life is truly about whom you know, and anyone who leads you to believe different is pulling the wool over your eyes.
Q: What separates a good mentor from an extraordinary mentor?
A: Extraordinary mentors eat, sleep and breathe WISE. They think about their WISE students all the time. They are always pointing them towards the next direction. Everyone deserves to have someone in their corner, rooting for them, pushing them to their limits, making every minute count-it is a WISE mentor's job to do just that.
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David Greene, WISE Program Consultant
As one gang member told an interviewer working for sociologist Deanna Wilkinson:
"I grew up as looking for somebody to love me in the streets. You know, my mother was always working, my father used to be doing his thing. So I was by myself. I'm here looking for some love. I ain't got nobody to give me love, so I went to the streets to find love."
WISE mentors provide that love.
I can probably say that unofficially I have been someone's mentor since I was still in high school working as a camp counselor in local day camps and coaching either baseball and football from in high schools from 1974 to 2012. I have been a WISE mentor since 1986.
You can't say what a mentor is simply as it is defined. Do you give advice to someone with less experience? Sure. Do you counsel them? Sure. Do you help them learn to prepare for upcoming situations and events in their lives? Sure. Most of all you have to listen and develop a trusting relationship.
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Thank You, People's United Bank!
Thank you to People's United Bank, White Plains branch, for shining their Spotlight on WISE Services.
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From the Archives
During the current school year, 1,000 mentors have "become fellow travelers" on the student journeys of over 1,500 WISE students. Mentorship has always been a key component of the WISE Experience. The influence of this adult-rich mentoring relationship for WISE students is profound and lasting.
From the WISE Journal archives, here are two gems that we are proud to revisit:
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May is WISE Mentor Month
The WISE mentor model has been transformative for tens of thousands of high school seniors.
This month we celebrate mentors.
We would love to include your mentor or mentee experiences. Email us at [email protected].
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WISE Services Board of Directors
Charles Knoblock
Glenn McDermott
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