Timothy Miles aspires to study electrical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, but right now he is just trying to turn in his homework on time.
To help him along, City Commissioner Sherwin Henry has met with Timothy every week since October to talk about school, sports and success.
Timothy, a seventh-grader at Abraham Lincoln Middle School, is one of seven students in a new mentoring program, Gainesville Enrichment Mentoring Program, which pairs up at-risk middle school students with city government employees.
He said Henry tells him to work hard and to never give up.
“It’s pretty strong,” Timothy said of Henry’s encouragement.
Jared “Ashten” Crawford wants to be a CEO. His mentor, Rick Mulligan, said the 13-year-old has the smile and confidence of a businessman.
He just needs the education.
Both Ashten and Timothy are part of the statewide organization Take Stock in Children, which also oversees the city mentoring program. The statewide program currently gives mentors and Florida Prepaid scholarships to 125 at-risk, low-income students in Alachua County.
While the graduation rate for at-risk students in Florida hovers at 57 percent, the program has a 92 percent success rate.
Every Friday, Mulligan visits Ashten at Howard Bishop Middle School. They talk about the pizza in New York, algebra and Gators football as Ashten slouches comfortably in his chair.
Mulligan, the executive director of Alachua County Public Schools Foundation Inc., brought Ashten information once about a high school designed for aspiring businessmen.
“As we went over it, he was completely engaged in it,” Mulligan said. “Totally absorbed.”
It’s interactions like that, he said, that make all the difference. Mulligan said the mentor’s purpose isn’t to be an extra parent or a watchdog. Mentors are advocates, friends and confidantes. If nothing else, a mentor’s purpose is just to be there.
Mentors are asked to dedicate at least a year to the relationship. Ideally, the pair will stick together for six years, until the mentee graduates. Mulligan, who keeps a framed picture of Ashten on his desk next to one of his grandson, said he’s in it for the long haul.
“I couldn’t imagine walking out on him,” he said. “That’s like walking out on your own kids.”
Mulligan admits it’s not easy to be Ashten or his peers. They’re growing up in a world foreign to him, a world where education is sometimes looked down upon, fighting is the best way to solve arguments and, “What? Are you dreaming? That’s not for you,” are common responses to goals.
Most students in the program come from single-parent households, he said. Some of them grow up in an environment where people move in and out of their lives faster than they go through a tube of toothpaste. Mulligan said mentors are a consistent, reliable presence.
There is, however, one problem: The program can’t take every student.
When a student is accepted, a scholarship is immediately purchased and set aside until he or she graduates. More money for scholarships means more children in the program. Last year, Take Stock in Children in Alachua County had 110 applications for 23 slots.
In order to choose whom to take, a system ranks students based on their risk factors. Similar to measuring the power of a hurricane, students are ranked from category one to four. From there, the staff chooses students who will be most successful in the program.
Mulligan repeats what seems to be the program’s mantra: “The way out of poverty is education and relationships.” He knows a scholarship alone won’t keep these kids out of trouble. But, perhaps, someone who tells them week after week, “You can do this. You’re very capable,” will make a difference.
“I want my mentee to be an all-star,” he said. “I want him to really shine.”
