De?Jah Green wants to be a doctor. Tony Campbell has his sights set on being an astronaut, or maybe a soldier. But both third-graders have already done some work with Baltimore Gas & Electric.
BGE employees joined with the Maryland Mentoring Partnership to start National Mentoring Month at Bentalou Elementary School in West Baltimore on Tuesday. It?s the ninth year BGE has worked with the partnership at the school, but the company?s employees have mentored Bentalou youth for more than 20 years, third-grade teacher Cynthia Easley said.
“It?s more than just teaching,” Easley said of the mentors. “It?s the love they bring. It takes a village to raise a child? This is part of this village coming in to help these children learn.”
Company executives often take some convincing at first before seeing the merits of mentorship, said Selwyn Ray, executive director of the Maryland Mentoring Partnership.
“Initially there?s resistance; they think it?ll take away from staff time,” Ray said. “It is easy, once you get the mechanism down. This is self-interest for the companies; it?s educating the work force of the future.”
BGE has 25 employees committed to the mentorship program this year.
Nancy Milner, a BGE account representative, is in her sixth year of mentoring at the school and on Tuesday worked with De?Jah, Tony and fellow students to read “A Chair for My Mother” by Vera Williams.
“You never know what a few hours can mean to someone,” she said.
More than 100 students at Bentalou receive mentorship, and BGE is among 20 corporate mentorship partners statewide, focused mostly around the Greater Baltimore area, Ray said.
But Baltimore City Public School System CEO Dr. Andres Alonso at Tuesday?s event said more mentors were needed.
“We have many students who need additional help,” Alonso said. “It?s important that other institutions step up … and provide the mentors our students need.”
Want to mentor?
If your company wants to participate in a mentorship program, contact Mike Stone, manager of corporate partnerships and training for the Maryland Mentoring Partnership, at 410-685-8316 or [email protected].
