Published: November 17, 2008 11:18 pm         

Sycamores branch out: ISU football players volunteer to mentor McLean students

Players will meet with students once a week for 45 minutes

TERRE HAUTE — Corey Grigsby is a McLean High School senior working on a game plan to finish high school and go to college.

He’s hoping to benefit from a new mentoring program between McLean and the Indiana State University football team.

“I want to know how they got into college and how they got all the money to pay for it,” he said. He believes other McLean students should take an interest in having a mentor, too, “if they want to go to college.”

McLean announced the new mentoring program Monday in a news conference at the school.

About 10 to 12 ISU football players have volunteered to serve as mentors.

McLean Principal Rick Stevens is asking that they make at least a 12-week commitment, or one trimester, and meet with a student at McLean about once a week for about 45 minutes. He hopes to get the program launched as early as next week.

Edmund Jones, ISU assistant football coach, said head coach Trent Miles “really cares about this community.” Miles wants his football players to be well-rounded and involved in community service.

The idea for the project came from Superintendent Dan Tanoos, who hopes to make a difference in the lives of the football players and the McLean students, Stevens said.

“We believe all children have the potential to succeed in life and contribute to our society,” Stevens said. “However, not all children receive the support or opportunities they need to thrive in this world. By all estimates, an astounding 17.6 million children — nearly half the population of young people between 10 and 18 years of age — may be in situations that put them at risk of not living up to their potential.”

Mentoring has proven to be a powerful tool for helping young people set goals and find success, Stevens said. Through mentoring, caring adults offer support, advice, friendship and reinforcement to the students.

The goals of the mentoring program will be to help kids stay in school, improve school attendance, assist students with homework and help them make their dreams reality, Stevens said.

Ray Azar, Vigo County School Corp. director of student services, told the McLean students it’s possible for them to do whatever they want, but they will have to put in the time and effort to achieve those goals.

He likened it to the football players, who work hard to improve their game.

One of the ISU football players who plans to serve as a mentor is Dan Millington, a graduate of Terre Haute North Vigo High School. “I’ve always wanted to do it [serve as a mentor],” he said. “It’s a chance to give back.”

When he was in high school, Millington had a lot of friends who went to McLean, graduated from high school and went on to college. He knows the alternative school has helped a lot of students be successful. “I just want to be part of it,” he said.

Another ISU football player, Mike Woods, said he wants to give back to the community. “In my life, I had somebody I could look up to,” he said. That’s inspired him to want to do the same for others. McLean student Aaron Davis believes the mentoring program could help some of the high-school students “because it will give them somebody to talk to.”

When students start at McLean, they often don’t have hope or dreams, Stevens said. He hopes the ISU mentors can make a difference in the lives of some of those students.