MENTORING GRADUATES Mentoring is a positive one-on-one relationship between a youth and an adult that provides emotional support, advice and guidance to help the younger person deal with the challenges of life. The goal is to help the young person gain the skills and confidence to deal with those situations and be able and responsible to make good choices in the future.
At the Washington Youth Academy, mentors provide a crucial element to the Academy’s success. Each cadet has a mentor pre-selected before the cadet has even enrolled in the Academy. They write to each other. They spend time with each other. And, after the cadet graduates, the mentor spends at least the next year making sure the cadet stays on track – a key element in the post-residential cycle at the Academy. It’s a commitment of time, attention and some expense. And some mentors, unfortunately, leave before the cadet has even graduated. It’s best to have a mentor the cadet knows, but sometimes that’s not possible. That leaves the Academy, parents and the cadet scrambling for a replacement.
Michelle Padilla was a graduate of cycle 13-1 and says she was a rare example of not having a mentor by the time she graduated. “It would have been way easier having a mentor,” she says. “That’s why I want to be a mentor now.”
Padilla is now a specialist in the Washington National Guard, who works full time for Joint Services Support. Last year, she spent time with members of the 194th Air Wing, who visited the Academy and also were learning about the mentor opportunities.
“There’s no way you could have met with these kids today and walked away not wanting to fulfill that role,” Chief Master Sgt. Jim Hunt said. “You don’t have a heart if you walk away feeling you can’t be a part of this.”
Cadets have lunch with members of the 194th Wing, Washington Air National Guard, at the Washington Youth Academy in Bremerton.
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