May 23, 2013
South Middle School is the first in the state to run a program called "Where Everybody Belongs", or "WEB". It's a chance to connect the new sixth graders with a mentor in eighth grade.
"Their major focus is on one another," says John Wallace. "The fact that we have students leading students is on of the most powerful things I've been a part of."
Sixty 8th graders applied to be mentors, and went through two days of training before spending Thursday with their small groups of about a dozen 6th graders.
"When I was in 6th grade, we really didn't have things like this to get the 6th graders used to being around the school and talking to teachers and stuff so I think it's a really cool idea," says Klare Armstrong, a mentor.
The mentors and their small groups will have nine meetings thought the school year to talk about academic and social issues.
