Walden students wrap up mentoring of Julian Thomas kids

Friday, May 25, 2007 2:14 AM CDT

A glimpse of graduation

By Paul Sloth

Journal Times

Racine

- In the coming days, another class of Walden High School seniors will graduate. Many of them will go on to college. Some don't know for sure what they'll do next.

But finishing high school is its own reward, and can serve as a lesson to younger students.

A small group of these Walden seniors tried on their mortarboards Thursday as they showed two classes of fourth-graders at Julian Thomas Elementary School, in the heart of Racine's central city, that hard work can pay off.

Finishing was the thrust of the message from the Walden students, who spent the school year as mentors to the younger students.

Zenaida Maldonado, 17, plans to study architecture and linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the fall. Thursday was the seniors' last chance to visit with their young charges.

It was one last chance to send them a message that education is important and staying in school is worth the effort.

It's a message Maldonado's parents emphasized with her. It's a message Maldonado knows some children might not get.

It's a big part of Walden's Positive Impact program.

"You create, like, a bond. A lot of these children don't have older siblings," Maldonado said.

Role models can sometimes be in short supply for children in some Racine neighborhoods. Graduation might seem like a long shot to some.

It could have been a long shot for Thomas Cobbs, who will graduate this year.

The elementary students crane their necks to look up to Cobbs, 17. His participation in Positive Impact was part of the Racine Unified School District's Student Assistance Program, an effort to pair older and younger students.

Cobbs and other Walden students met with fourth-graders once a month, working from lesson plans they created. The lessons included making good choices, interacting with others and learning manners. They want to pass on the tools they picked up through the years, tools that got them this far.

"It makes me feel good and I feel like I'm being looked up to," Cobbs said.

Cobbs, who will attend Lakeland College, credits his teachers at Walden with helping him stay on the right track. He plans to study computer engineering.

Cheryl Holewinski, a social worker at Julian Thomas, helped organize the program, which she said replaced programs, such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education, that the school no longer has. She agreed that it was a good way for young students to see what can happen when they stay in school.

Justin Urban, a junior at Walden, looks forward to being a leader in the group next year. Urban, 17, remembers what school was like when he was in fourth grade at Winslow Elementary. Education isn't always a priority, he said, which is why he likes working with younger students. He said he wants to show them that the classroom can have a stronger pull than the streets.

"We're trying to show them that they can graduate," Urban said.

The student volunteers in Positive Impact often have to make up their regular class work because of the time devoted to working on lessons and mentoring.

"It's motivating for them. Sometimes it's a real burden for them, but they don't mind," said Julie Fornary, a teacher at Walden and the school's Student Assistance Program coordinator.

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