Field trip brings together students from three districts in mentoring program
Students and adult mentors in the Be a Middle School Mentor (BAMSM) program that we offer in collaboration with United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania visited Cathedral of Learning in May.
The trip brought together BAMSM participants from Clairton City, McKeesport Area and Woodland Hills school districts for tours led by student tour guides that the University of Pittsburgh trains with a semester-long curriculum.
After their first stops in the nationality rooms, guides asked students what other rooms might be on their wish lists. Among the choices were rooms representing the cultures of Japan, Israel, and Africa, among others.
As the groups of students wended their way through, they related some of the things they learned in BAMSM.
For Abby from Woodland Hills, the biggest takeaway was lots of help with her English classes. One of her classmates, Darian, said the most important thing he’d learned in the program was “how to be successful.”
Asked to enumerate some tips, he said, “You have to get an education.” Others around him chimed in their own answers. Kamiyah said being successful requires “responsibility,” while a friend sitting nearby said it takes “perseverance.”
A favorite part of the program? For Skyler, from McKeesport, it was “when you worked with a mentor at the beginning of the year.”“You learned how to be part of a team,” she said. “That was good for me.”
