UNIQEMA’S MENTORING TEAM

Since 1997, Uniqema has partnered in a School Mentoring program with the Harry O. Eisenberg Elementary School – a local neighborhood school. Working through the Governor’s office, we decided to select a school in the immediate community with ‘high risk’ students who could benefit from a mentoring relationship.

The mission of the Uniqema program is to increase the academic achievement and school success of students. The regular meetings of the students and their mentors aid in promoting this.

Uniqema’s objectives are to improve student attendance, communication skills, problem solving abilities, and academic achievement through an adult friendship/role model. Meeting these objectives will assist the youth in becoming well-rounded and positive individuals that can effectively contribute to society.

A Uniqema mentor is a caring adult who is willing to devote an hour a week to a child in need of academic tutoring, emotional support, or merely friendship. A mentor serves as a role model and a friend.

Students in theUniqema program attend Eisenberg Elementary and are in grades kindergarten through fifth grade. They are in need of the additional support and guidance of an adult to be successful in school. Many of the students lack the necessary home support to accomplish school success.

All mentoring occurs at the school. Mentors meet with the same assigned student for 1-hour a week. There is an opportunity to use recreational, art, music, computer and lunch facilities on a one-on-one basis with the student. Activities range from reading aloud, doing school work together, playing games, working on a PC, shooting hoops in the gym, to just hanging out and talking. Whatever the activity, the focus is on forming a supportive relationship with the child that can aid him or her to succeed. The mentor serves as the student’s role model and friend.

In addition, at the end of each school year, the students are invited to join their mentors at the Atlas Point Plant site for an Annual Mentoring Field Day consisting of “hands-on” science fun and learning adventures, safety activities, and a Plant tour in which students are able to witness the operations of a manufacturing plant first-hand. The students with their mentors tour and participate in activities in the Warehouse, Production areas, Maintenance Shops, Laboratories and Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD) area. Visitors may include the Governor and other elected officials. This is a very special day dedicated solely to the students.