An Inside Look at iLead: A Freshman Mentoring Program
During an iLead tutoring session, Emma Davis, 12, and Vinay Honne, 12, help Brandon Aiken, 9, Layla Gill, 9, and Matthew Moses, 9, with their studies and give them advice concerning their classes.
October 31, 2022
Throughout the year, iLead has been working to help freshmen in many aspects of their high school lives. Students have been getting help with their studies, college preparation, and much more from the club.
The program gives freshmen tutoring in many areas and advice for the future as well as the present. Here, juniors and seniors alike do their part in aiding students with the transition to a new school and the new responsibilities they have to take on.
“As a freshman, you don’t really know anything when you get into high school. Transitioning from middle school to high school can be hard, and we want to be able to help them,” Zarea Parker, 12, said.
During her freshman year, Parker struggled adjusting to the differences between middle school and high school, and this motivated her to want to help kids who are having difficulty adapting to the new environment. When she heard about iLead, she was happy to volunteer and become a mentor. Due to her efforts as well as the efforts of others, freshmen have had positive experiences with the program.
“They seem to enjoy it. When we had tutoring, they were getting help with their homework. Most of them had pleasant experiences I’d assume because they were very appreciative that we were helping them with their homework, especially since they were focusing on classes that they are struggling in specifically,” Emma Davis, 12, said.
Furthermore, iLead has been planning on ways to benefit more of the student body, for some members, such as Parker have been considering the idea of allowing sophomores to be mentored through the program too. Additionally, the club has been working on bringing back hour-long lunch periods that have not been in practice since the start of the pandemic, and iLead tutoring will still be available during these periods. The members are happy to be able to assist Mill Creek and mentor freshmen in the iLead community.
“It’s a great community; you make lots of friends. It’s really fun. I think it’s a good thing, and there are no dues,” Parker said, “I couldn’t ask for a better thing to do with my time.”
