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“How’s history gonna be fun?” Leah Young asked, sounding skeptical. Her teen mentor, Hannah, looked a little embarrassed.
I liked to pair kids up so that the mentors learned from their young partners, as well as the other way around. Hannah was polite to a fault, introverted, and too shy to speak up at times. Leah, eight, was a little hellion that appalled her but also drew her out of her shell. In turn, Hannah role-modeled respect and quiet competence.
They were just one of many pairings in the class, but at the back of the room sat two boys who’d been enrolled late—Toby Rhodes and Phoenix Mattox. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough mentors so I needed to wrap this up quickly so I could give them my attention.
“Leah, have you ever been in a play?”
The little brunette perked up. “I was in a class skit once. I played the tooth fairy. I was really good at it too!”
I bit down on a smile. “I bet you were.”
I addressed the rest of the group. “And how many of you have dressed up in costume, like for Halloween?”
All the hands in the room shot up. I had them now.
“Excellent, so if you add costumes and acting together, what do you get?”
“A play!” Matt Wells called.
“That’s right, but not just any play. Some of you will be re-enacting the roles of Granville’s most historic figures in front of the whole town.”
Leah’s squeal of excitement and Hannah’s corresponding expression of horror made me chuckle.
“Of course, unlike a traditional play, this is a historical re-enactment. That means we have to select real historical figures in Granville, learn about them, write their stories, and then wow the town at the big 150th celebration. Some of you may be more comfortable behind the scenes instead of onstage, and that’s fine. We’ll have plenty of jobs to go around. We’ll be working on scripts, making costumes, and even writing up small articles for the town news blog.”
Hannah visibly exhaled with relief. I’d organized it this way intentionally. I wanted everyone to play to their strengths.
“Houston, I know you work for the school newspaper, so I’m counting on you to take the lead and liaison with theInside Granvilleblog. Linc Tate has agreed to work with us on this.”
“Cool, I can do that.”
“This is a big project and a big responsibility. The city is trusting us to make it really special. So today, I want you all to start with a list of what parts of the project you’d like to contribute to and why. Think about your strengths and your mentoring partner’s strengths. You’ll each be a team. And give me more than one choice because we can’t all be the tooth fairy, right, Leah?”
She beamed. “Yeah! But I can, right?”
I snorted. She was such a little ham there was no doubt, but I still said, “Everyone will have a chance to request their role in the project, and I’ll do my best to make sure everyone is happy, but in the end, we all have to work together in the roles that work best for the whole group, all right?”
There was a discordant jangle of yeses as the kids answered out of sync.
Once they were making their lists and talking excitedly about what they might do, I headed to the back of the classroom, where Toby and Phoenix slouched.
“Hey, guys. How’s it going?”
“Okay,” Phoenix mumbled, while Toby shrugged.
“I know this is a little overwhelming for a first day,” I said. “You two have some catching up to do.”
Not just with project planning either, but with their regular classwork. Toby’s teacher had updated me on his situation in class, and he was lagging behind in his reading and vocabulary lessons, partly because he often rage quit during class, then had to be calmed down. He’d visited the counselor a few times, but the kid was a tough nut to crack.
Phoenix’s situation was a little better. He’d missed a lot of school due to illness, and he’d been struggling to catch up ever since.
None of which was the point of my program, but Toby and Phoenix did need support, so we’d have to make the best of it.
Since we didn’t have enough mentors to accommodate our two late joiners, I spent the rest of our time keeping Toby and Phoenix on task. The other students brought me their lists, one by one, and were then free to spend time hanging out with their mentors or catching up on schoolwork. I tried to be flexible and let them bond when I didn’t need their attention.
Once the bell rang, the kids began drifting out. Most of the elementary kids’ parents arrived to escort them, but there was no sign of Hunter.
Maybe he just didn’t know the typical protocol?
