TeamMates rewarding for both sides

James Mitnik, from left, now attending the University of Nebraska-Omaha, has lunch with his former TeamMates mentor, Raleigh Haas during a recent visit to McCook. Mitnik says he likes to makes it a priority to touch base with Haas when he has time.

Lorri Sughroue/McCook

McCOOK, Neb. — It didn’t take long for Raleigh Haas of McCook to find out his perceptions about the TeamMate mentoring program were a little off-base.

Haas said he was apprehensive at first about volunteering as a mentor. The semi-retired probation officer, now a volunteer fireman and a supervisor for a hospital-based ambulance service, said had the idea the program included more than he could give, such as tutoring or counseling and required a big chunk of time.

But nine years ago, a mentoring relationship with a seventh grader changed all that.

“It didn’t take long to find out I was wrong,” Haas admitted.

James Mitnik was an average seventh grader, involved in sports and on the honor roll, when he was matched up with Haas. He had decided to give TeamMates a try as it “made sense to me, it sounded like a cool idea,” he said.

So once a week the two met on school grounds, playing board games and talking about “stuff.” Soon, “We really formed a bond, it didn’t take long,” Haas remembered.

And what was once an hour-a-week commitment has now grown into a real friendship, with both keeping in touch with each other as the years pass. Now a business administration major at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Mitnik calls Haas when he has some free time and meets up with him when he visits McCook.

High school can be notoriously rocky and for Mitnik, TeamMates was a connection that kept the little bumps in the road from becoming mountains.

Mentoring “can really affect a kid’s life,” he said. “For me, sometimes that one hour was the best part of the whole week.”

Founded in 1991 by Tom and Nancy Osborne, TeamMates provides adult mentors to students from fourth to 12th grade.

At McCook Public Schools, mentors can request a certain age they’d like to work with, said McCook TeamMates director, Janae Solomon, or leave it up to her to decide. The program extends to students at St. Patrick Catholic School and neighboring towns have also implemented the program.

For her part, Solomon conducts a one-time training session with mentors, another one for mentees, and tries to match the personality traits and interests of the mentee with a mentor.

Students can be self nominated or nominated by a teacher, counselor or parents and all matches must be parent-approved.

In Mitnik’s case, his mom had no problem with her son being in TeamMates.

“After she met (Raleigh), she was completely on board,” he said.

Mentors and mentees meet for up to an hour, once a week, on school grounds. Background checks are done on mentors and references are checked before they are accepted into the program.

Scholarships are available for mentees who graduate while in the program, funded by local donations, with some funded by the TeamMates central office in Lincoln and other scholarships from colleges outside of McCook.

Mitnik said Haas has made a difference in his life, showing him through example that circumstances don’t have to dictate his choices and the importance of family.

“I learned compassion from him, he never says a bad word about anyone,” Mitnik said. “I learned that I can create my own life, no matter what.”

Haas is now matched with another mentee and highly recommends mentoring to others.

“Most people have the ability to mentor and it’s beneficial to both,” he said.

For more information on becoming a mentor, call Solomon at (308)-344-4532.